By Assam Abia.
History has a way of preserving truth, even when present narratives attempt to blur it. In the raging controversy over the ownership of the Stubbs Creek Forest Reserve, known to the Ekid people as Akoiyak Ekid, official records of the Akwa Ibom State Government itself have resurfaced to challenge a recent press release which claimed that the forest does not belong to Ekid Nation but to the state government.
A set of government documents dated 1998, now in the public domain, clearly contradicts that position.
At the heart of the documents is an official approval by the then Military Administrator of Akwa Ibom State, authorising the payment of ₦18,340,000.00 as compensation to the Edo Group of Villages, an Ekid community, for the acquisition of part of the Stubbs Creek Forest Reserve for the expansion of the Mobil Qua Iboe Terminal.
This single fact is decisive:
Under Nigerian law and long-established administrative practice, compensation is paid only to lawful landowners, not to tenants, settlers, or communities without proprietary interest. Governments do not compensate themselves. They compensate indigenous owners whose land rights are being extinguished or limited for public purposes.
The 9th March 1998 letter, issued from the Office of the Military Administrator, Uyo, and signed by the Permanent Secretary, explicitly states that the payment was made “to Edo Group of Villages… as compensation for part of the Stubbs Creek Forest Reserve acquired by Government.” The beneficiary was further identified through Mrs. Joyce Udom of United Chambers, acting under a duly granted Power of Attorney by the Edo villages.
Even more revealing is the internal memo from the Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development, which documents the negotiation process. It records that the Edo Group of Villages accepted 40% of ₦45.85 million, amounting to ₦18.34 million, after intense negotiations lasting weeks.
The memo then formally requests approval for the release of the funds to the Edo villages, again affirming ownership.
These are not community pamphlets or partisan publications. They are official Akwa Ibom State Government records, bearing reference numbers, signatures, and approvals at the highest administrative level of the time.
The implication is unavoidable:
If the Stubbs Creek Forest Reserve truly belonged solely to the state government, there would have been no Edo villages to negotiate with, no compensation to approve, and no Power of Attorney to recognise.
The Edo Group of Villages are part of Ekid Nation, and Akoiyak Ekid has been historically known as Ekid ancestral land long before colonial forest classifications or post-colonial administrative boundaries.
The forest reserve status did not erase indigenous ownership; it merely placed regulatory control over land that already belonged to a people.
It is therefore troubling that, decades after formally acknowledging Ekid ownership through compensation, the same government institution would now issue a press statement denying that history.
Such a position not only contradicts documentary evidence but also risks deepening mistrust and inflaming avoidable tensions.
Governance thrives on consistency, good faith, and respect for historical facts. When government records affirm a people’s ownership, justice demands that those records be honoured, not rewritten.
Akoiyak Ekid is not a recent invention, nor is Ekid’s claim a new agitation. It is a matter already acknowledged by the Akwa Ibom State Government itself, in ink, in signatures, and in paid compensation.
In the end, documents do not argue; they testify. And on the question of who owns Stubbs Creek Forest Reserve, the testimony of history is clear: Akoiyak Ekid belongs to the Ekid people.
Abia is a Journalist, writes from Eket, Akwa Ibom State.
