Ndon Ebom protests: “Who Gave our Land to the Nigerian Airforce?”
By Ndifreke Enefiok
Indigenes of Ndon Ebom community have staged a peaceful protest, seeking closure and demanding answers regarding the alleged forceful acquisition of their ancestral land by the Nigerian Airforce without their knowledge or consent.
The protest which took place in the early hours of Wednesday, March 6, 2023, along the Victor Attah International Airport road witnessed a significant turnout of women, men, old and young, who marched at the land allegedly allocated to the Nigerian Airforce base, Uyo with placards and inscriptions such as ‘’who gave our land to the Nigerian Airforce?’’
Amidst a palpable atmosphere of frustration, disbelief, and anger, the Ndon Ebom indigenes expressed their grievances and appealed to key stakeholders for intervention, stating that the land in question is their only ancestral land which they farm yearly and have been doing so for many decades until it was forcefully taken from them.
They urged Akwa Ibom State Governor, Pastor Umo Eno, Hon. Itoro Etim, Member Representing Uruan State Constituency at the Akwa Ibom House of Assembly, Commissioner for Internal Security and Waterways, Brigadier General Koko Essien (Rtd), along with community stakeholders, to address the issue urgently and prevent the Nigerian Airforce from further encroaching on their land.
The disputed land, spanning 36 hectares close to the Victor Attah International Airport, is owned by different families from the villages of Ndak Ikot Akpa Unam and Ndak Ikot Abasi in Ndon Ebom, Uruan Local Government Area, who are predominantly farmers and livestock traders, the community disclosed.
“The NAF Base Uyo has mounted a signpost on the land and had proposed to hold a groundbreaking ceremony about last year without consulting with us”, the indigenes lamented.
Governor Umo Eno was the Commissioner for Lands and Water Resources at the time the land dispute started.
The Land Use Act of 1978 in Nigeria vests all land within each state’s territory in the Governor, to be administered for the common benefit of all Nigerians. The Act empowers the governor with the authority to allocate lands for public purposes or overriding public interest, including infrastructure, urban planning, or economic projects. It stipulates that when land is to be allocated, compensation must be provided to the aborigines of the land, and it should be adequate and reflective of the current market value. However, if an acquisition is found to lack a genuine public purpose, it may be contested.
On February 28 2021, former Governor Udom Emmanuel had approved 30 hectares of land for the Nigerian Air Force for the construction of the NAF Air Traffic Services Training Centre (ATSTC), the Spokesperson of the NAF, Air Vice Marshal Ibikunle Daramola, had revealed.
During the launch of the ARISE agenda, a blueprint of the governor, he had stated that agriculture will focus of the key components of his government, and charged Akwa Ibom people to return to the farm in a bid to promote food sufficiency.
Narrating the genesis of their ordeal, Chairman, Lands in Ndon Ebom, Akparawa Nkereuwem Etim explained that the land battle started in June 2020 when one Effiong Udo Etim, a farmer, ran to the community to raise an alarm and notify them of the invasion of NAF with soldiers numbering over eight. Etim recounted how, Effiong upon sighting the soldiers in the farm and a caterpillar clearing his mother’s cassava farm, approached the soldiers with his brother to inquire why their farm was being cleared in such a manner. He said upon inquiry, the furious soldiers, who were armed, beat the farmer’s brother severely, leaving him injured, and with a message to consult their village council.
Etim who lamented bitterly said ‘’Ever since I was born, I have never seen or heard anywhere when government forcefully takes somebody’s land using the army, brutalize the aborigines, inflict injuries on them, leaving them in pains. There has never been a time government approached us for this land or declared their intentions to us, for us to say, take or don’t take it.
“Besides, we don’t even have anymore lands to give to government because since the government of Attah took over 200 hectres of land from us for the airport project, we have nothing – not even electricity, water, hospital or a graded road to show for. From the look of things, it seems we are from Cameroon and not part of Akwa Ibom. People were employed by Ibom Air when they kicked off but none of our children from this catchment area were employed even from menial duties to professional neither have they signed any MoU with us.’’
Further explaining, Etim stated that the affected families had written letters and approached the Ministry of Lands and Water Resources for answers but were informed that such allocation was not recorded in their database and therefore deemed illegal. He explained that armed with this information from the ministry, the different families approached the State High Court in June 2020 to seek an interlocutory injunction to restrain NAF from further encroaching on their land, but all six cases were struck out for lacking merit.
However, he revealed that they were later informed of a 20 million naira compensation through a representative from the community whom they had appointed to make further inquiries and mediate for them. Additionally, he explained that they were again informed by the Commissioner for Internal Security and Waterways, Brigadier General Koko Essien (Rtd), who happens to comes from the village, of the offer from the alleged land grabbers to add another 30 million naira to the initial 20 million, an offer, he said they still rejected.
On his part, Chief Asuquo Umanah, the village head while lamenting over the development
said, “when former governor Victor Attah wanted to build the airport, he consulted the three local government comprising Okobo, Nsit Atai and Uruan which we all sat on a roundtable and agreed but this particular one – the Nigerian Airforce forcefully grabbing of our land is disappointing because they have never sat with us, the host community or even consulted us about their intentions to use our land.
“Even as the village head, I’m not aware of the transaction or agreement or whatsoever, I only woke up like every other indigene of my community to see that our only ancestral land has been encroached by the Federal government. I want to appeal to government to come to our aid because, as we speak my people are on my neck and have accused me of dashing the land to government behind closed doors. I have no knowledge of how Nigeria Airforce came to own our land neither was I approached by anyone before the land was taken.’’
Speaking on the protest, Akparawa Effiong James Effiong, Youth President of Ndak Ikot Akpa Unam who said the peaceful demonstration was to draw the attention of government and key stakeholders to their plight and solicit their intervention, said ‘’we’re here to stage a peaceful protest on the forceful hijacking of our land. We are here to plead with the government to come to our aid because in previous years, our lands were collected for the airport project and none of our youth was employed. We don’t have any other land to sell or give to anybody again that’s why we are calling on the entire Akwa Ibom people to join voices and speak up for us because we are helpless at this point.’’
Akparawa Prince Raphael Effiong, the immediate past Community Liaison Officer (CLO), who who questioned the rational behind the alleged forceful grabbing of their land wondered how the NAF intend the locals to survive without farming which he said is their major source of living. He however appealed to the State government to not only wade into the situation but restrain the NAF from using the army to oppress them.
Also expressing her grievance on behalf of the women, Mrs. Augusta Bassey, herself a farmer, said “We are all farmers, and Governor Umo Eno said we should return to the farm. How can we farm when our land has been forcefully taken? Are they suggesting we farm on the tarred road leading to the airport?”
While insisting on the community’s need for the land for annual farming, Bassey added, “All the women, men, and children of Ndon Ebom are saying today that we don’t want compensation. We need our land because this is the only land we used to farm for sustenance. Now our children, who are farmers, no longer have land to farm on. Consequently, stealing and hardship have increased. Since they want to take this only land, they should show us the employment they have created or the scholarship they have provided for our children because we used to farm this land to train our children in school and survive.’’
