Women protest naked over killing of vice principal, destruction of property
All is not well at Oku-Bushuyu, Osokom, Borum and Iruan communities in Boki Local Government Area of Cross River State as some powerful persons in the area are at daggers drawn over the control of the Boki palm oil estate established many decades ago. The crisis recently claimed the life of the vice principal of one of the secondary schools, Mrs Anna Etta even as many people sustained injuries and property worth millions of naira destroyed, including schools.
The crisis took another dimension when women of the area discarded their clothes to protest the invasion of their community by policemen, leading to the killing of Etta, maiming of some people, destruction of property as well as indiscriminate arrest and detention of natives.
Indeed, the 54-year old Boki oil palm estate has been dogged by problems over the years, ranging from the issue of privatization to the management and distribution of the 400 plots. But, the battle over the control of the estate reached a crescendo when new crop of political appointees from Boki insisted on taking absolute control of the 400 developed plots.
New wave
Daily Sun investigations revealed that the present imbroglio started in June last year when the Special Adviser to Governor Ayade on Infrastructure, Mac Thomy Agan, Juilan Bissong and Bar Paul Atsu (all from Osokom community in Boki) allegedly approached the Special Adviser to the Governor on Administration, Barrister Mark Obi, demanding that Obi should direct the estate manager, Mr Peter Ogar, to allocate plots to them.
They argued, in the meeting, that now that they are the political leaders of Boki, plots should be allocated to them as had been the tradition. It was learnt that Obi summoned Ogar to Calabar for a stakeholders’ meeting in which Ogar agreed to allocate plots to the appointees, but that would be possible after the expiration of the present tenancy in July this year.
It was further learnt that Agan kicked against the idea and did not hide his displeasure. He was said to have boasted in that meeting that heads would roll.
However, after Obi’s explanation, both parties agreed to sheathe their sword pending when the plots will be renewed. And when it was time, the privatization council wrote to the estate manager to commence fresh allocation.
Within that period, Agan was said to have written to the governor alleging that the manager had been shortchanging the government in terms of revenue that comes to the state’s coffers. This led to the governor mandating the commissioner for finance to investigate the matter.
Corroborating that there was a petition to that effect, Governor Ayade’s Special Adviser on Administration, Barrister Mark Obi, said that the finance commissioner investigated and absolved Ogar of any financial wrongdoing, having supplied the account he paid the proceeds into.
According to Obi, who comes from Okubushi, one of the landlord communities, the financial regulations governing the allocation of estates stipulates that farmers allocated plots pay into government revenue account at Ogoja and bring back the teller to estate manager who, in turn, will issue receipts and collect the teller.
Despite being exonerated by the finance commissioner, Obi said that Agan went ahead to remove Ogar and replaced him with Mr Samuel Ayuk Otu, from Etung, without recourse to due process. This, he said, heightened tension and acrimony among the hosts communities.
The member representing Boko 1 State Constituency, Hon Hillary Bisong, said it was wrong in the first place to set up a committee headed by Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Barr Tina Agbor, to oversee the running of the estate when the present tenancy agreement has not expired.
Admitting that he attended one of the meetings called by the SSG, Bisong said he advised the committee to tread cautiously as their action could be misinterpreted by landlord communities as attempt to eject them.
According to him, the farmers have already paid their rent and tended the palms. And now that it is ready to be harvested, they want to eject them. He added that it was wrong to dethrone a man who had been running the estate because he refused to allocate plots to some people.
He insisted that the committee would have consulted extensively with the host communities before embarking on any other arrangement contrary to the existing ones. He condemned the appointment of a non-indigene to run the affairs of the estate with six assistant managers from within the landlord communities.
Worried by the development, Boki elders convened a peace meeting at Kagwagon to find a solution. But a source close to the meeting told Daily Sun that two resolutions were arrived at, including the dissolution of the leadership of the landlord community’s committee and disarming of the youths.
The source further said that there was a twist to the whole matter, as a young man came out during the meeting to confess that he was a cultist but has turned a new leaf. He added that he would assist the community to fish out other cultists in the community.
The young man, whose identity could not be ascertained, also volunteered to expose those who buy guns for them, if the forum permits him to do so.
Shortly after the meeting, the source said some aggrieved youths beat up the young man thoroughly and inflicted machete cuts on him. To them, he was one of the arms’ bearing youths and wanted an escape route by diverting attention.
Unhappy with the development, Agan and some others sympathetic to the young man were said to have taken him to police headquarters in Calabar where the commissioner for Police, Mr Hasfiz Hafiz Inuwa, ordered that a detachment of mobile policemen should be sent to Okubushi community to fish out the perpetrators of the heinous crime.
Police invasion of community
However, the invasion of the landlord communities was the climax of the crisis, leading to killing, looting and destruction of the affected communities and the estate. The security operatives went into the communities between March 18 and 21, 2017 and were confronted by the youths in the forest.
Angered by the action of some youths, the policemen allegedly vented their spleen on innocent citizens by shooting sporadically into the air, causing confusion and making residents to run into forests and neighbouring communities for safety.
Naked protest
An eye witness, Emmanuel Abang, told Daily Sun that when the women discovered that the policemen had laid siege on Okbushi community for about two days, they embarked on what the natives called “Ekpa demonstration” by marching round the community naked in protest against the invasion of their community. This led to blocking of the road.
According to Bisong, “when the women discovered what was happening, they protested naked and blocked the road so that the policemen would not leave the community.”
And in the ensuing pandemonium, a 49-year-old mother of four, Anna Etta, a vice principal of one of the schools there, was shot dead while several others sustained bullet wounds. However, some daring youths resisted the action, leading to destruction of property in the community.
When our correspondent visited the community recently, it was discovered that several houses and trucks were vandalized, including the house of a former commissioner with the Local Government Service Commission, Mr. Fidelis Edor.
Stakeholders reaction
The Chairman Accredited Landlords Committee, Sir Pius Otu Bisong disclosed that when he got information that the community had been invaded even as some people were arrested and taken to Calabar, he went to the police station to inform the Divisional Police Offier (DPO), of the incidence.
But the story took a different hue when the 82-year-old man got to the police station. He said: “I was promptly arrested alongside others and taken to Calabar and detained for days on trumped up charges of arming thugs to foment trouble. And since then we have not been charged to court.”
On his part, Obi blamed the crisis on a top government official who is also from Boki LGA. He said Boki has not known peace since the person got the appointment. He noted that although the oil palm estate belongs to Cross River State Council on Privatisation, the move to forcefully take over the estate by printing and selling forms to selected individuals for the allocation of fresh plots would create further tension and acrimony.
Obi also condemned the indiscriminate arrests and intimidation of some elders of the community. He added that on several occasions, he assisted in quelling the crisis by contacting the appropriate authorities to intervene while urging people of his community to remain calm.
He accused the committee of printing forms and selling them for N3, 000 each to prospective allottees. He added that the processes adopted do not conform to financial regulations.
Insisting that the fight over the estate has political undertone, Obi said he was committed to ensuring that the right thing was done just as he would not allow anybody to annihilate and humiliate his community.
Another community leader, Sir Otu Bisong, said that since 2016, they had informed government of the need to privatise the estate with no positive result only for agents of government to start intimidating them to vacate the oil palm estate.
Lamenting the incessant arrest of elders on trumped up charges, he said that the solution to the crisis was dialogue. He opined that those who paid for plots in the estate between January and July this year should be allowed to complete their tenancy.
Also speaking, the Secretary General of the Landlords Committee of the estate, Anthony Obi, decried the sacking of Okubushuyu and the killing of Anna Etta as well as attacks on Mrs Barong Odu and her daughter, Mary Odu, during the invasion.
Condemning the invasion and actions of some politicians, Hon Bisong, said: “Though I am a member of the committee, but policies are for the people and you cannot force it down their throat all the time.
“Government didn’t provide medium of communication between them and the people. The host communities were not totally carried along in this exercise and even if they were carried along, there was already bad blood between the political gladiators.
“Agreed that the estate belongs to the government but at the same time, people gave their lands for the cultivation. So, you must deliberate with them in carrying out any policy. I think the communities prefer privatisation and government should go for it and abandon the so-called small holders’ scheme, as it is no longer fashionable.”
However, when the SSG, Bar Tina Agbor, was contacted on phone, she said that she was just acting on instruction from the governor who had directed they take over the government estate and plug revenue leakages.
Refuting allegations that he disbanded the committee without due process, Agan said that he was mandated by the governor to take over the management of the estate for improved revenue generation. His word: “The governor gave me the mandate to take over the management of the estate. We printed 1,000 forms and sold each for N3, 000 and the money is usually paid into government’s coffers.
“At the moment, there is no credible company to manage the estate. We discovered that there is a cabal managing the company. There are less than 100 people existing as real owners of plots in the estate. Over 400 of the plots are owned by fictitious and none existing people, courtesy of the said committee who put the fake names in the list and this has to stop.’’
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