By Nsan Ndoma-Neji, Calabar
Bendeghe Ekiem traditional rulers in Etung Local Government Area of Cross River State, have asked youths occupying disputed hectares of cocoa farms at the government-owned cocoa estate to obey the court order and “vacate the land immediately, so as not to portray the community in bad light.”
The warning came after years of conflict over land allocation and royalty payments tied to the estate.
Chairman of the Crises Management Committee of Mbume Blocks of Clans, Chief Odu Ndep, made the appeal during the weekend in Bendeghe Ekiem community.
The directive followed the chiefs receiving keys to a structure donated by Dr. Oscar Ofuka, former Special Adviser on Cocoa Development.
The building will house Faith Plant Global, handling the 10-kilometre Ikom/Obudu road project.
The monarch stated that the plots were legally allocated to contractors by the previous administration under a court consent judgement, warning that disobedience of court order could attract consequences for the community, since it would look as if the community had resisted the order of the court.
The dispute began after cocoa landlord communities in Etung sued former Gov Ben Ayade’s administration over 16 years of unpaid royalties.
To settle the debt, the previous government leased over 1,000 hectares of cocoa farm for six years to allottees, who latter paid money into accounts of the Cross River State government and the proceeds were used to defray royalties owed the cocoa landlord communities.
Tension returned when the present administration’s cocoa allocation committee leased the same plots to new allottees. Overlapping claims, thereafter, led to tension and “leading to the death of one person.”
Ndep, one of Bendeghe Ekiem’s oldest chiefs, urged youths “wrongfully occupying farm plots in the government-owned cocoa estate to vacate the farms “since the plots had already been genuinely allocated to contractors by the state government.”
He said, “Government as we know is a continuum, whether old or new. When an administration comes on board the administration inherits both assets and liabilities.
“The rule of law is not selectively applied, but applied to all citizens of Nigeria.
“I want to use my position as one of the oldest chiefs in the community to appeal for the good of the land and for peace and order that those who have been misled to wrongfully occupy cocoa farms to please vacate the farms for the rightful allottees.”
He concluded, “I repeat, leave those farms for the rightful allottees, for if they failed to heed, so that we won’t portray our community as resisting the court of the land.”
