By Ochereome Nnanna
I HAVE watched with sour interest what has been going on between Akwa Ibom and Cross River states since the Federal Government decided that the latter was no longer an oil-producing state.
The story of the two sister states is an ironic and intriguing rise of a former underdog and the increasing impoverishment of a former social overlord, and in both cases for reasons beyond their respective control.
The two sisters used to belong to what was known as the South Eastern State which was created in 1967 and later renamed Cross River State in 1976 when additional states were created by the Murtala Mohammed regime.
The people of today’s Akwa Ibom State were generically referred to as the Ibibio and dominated the population of the old Cross River State so much that the peoples of Calabar the capital (Qua, Efik and Efut) started regarding them as alien invaders and corrupters of their proud Calabar heritage; pests that were to be looked down upon in the same way the peoples of Bonny and Kalabari areas of Rivers State used to look down their noses at the uplanders around them.
The simple reason was because the Calabar and Bonny people had early exposure to the white man, Western education and sold slaves from the hinterland.
They had rich and prestigious kingdoms in which their immediate upland neighbours came to take economic and cultural shelter. The Efiks of Calabar used to regard the Ibibio as “Ibio-ibo” which, I am made to understand, means offspring of the Ibo, as a way of emphasising the difference between the Efiks and the Ibibio.
Even though the people of today’s Akwa Ibom also embraced Western education early, many of their less-privileged ones submitted to professional servitude in urban areas and became wildly known all over the country as professional house-helps, cooks and domestic servants; a fact reflected in Chika Okpala’s Masquerade comedy series, in which James Iroha (Giringory) played the role of the “Calabar Boy” servant to “Chief Zebrudaya”.
The people of Calabar are proud and epicurean; and would not submit to being anybody’s servant. Therefore, the lowly “Calabar Boy” in your mind’s screen was from today’s Akwa Ibom.
These hard working people spread to all parts of the country and in Aba where they learnt all sorts of trade and performed menial jobs to survive. They were derogatively referred to as Mmong people (mimicry of the sound of their language).
But from 1987, the story of Akwa Ibom started to change. General Babangida created a new state for them the same day that Katsina State was created. After Abacha’s Conference when the 13 per cent derivation royalties were ceded to oil producing states, Akwa Ibom arrived as an oil-rich state.
The table turned. From the total federal monthly allocation, the state collects the fourth largest share of derivation royalties after Rivers, Delta and Bayelsa. What Akwa Ibom gained, Cross River lost.
Cross River’s losing streak continued when Nigeria ceded oil-rich Bakasi Peninsula to Cameroun in order to fulfil its civil war mortgaging of the disputed area to enable it contain Biafra. While still struggling to resettle those displaced, a court ruled that a parcel of land containing 76 oil wells now belonged to Akwa Ibom.
Presto, the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Allocation Commission (RMFAC) declared Cross River as no longer an oil producing state. In a curious interpretation, the state was pronounced a non-littoral state even though the Calabar Ports are still there!
Today, Akwa Ibom towers head and shoulder above its neighbouring states (except Rivers) in oil wealth, which in 10 years, has been deployed to lift the standard of living of its people. Akwa Ibom people are no longer interested in being associated with Calabar in order to pass because the Akwa Ibom identity alone is prestige defined.
Stripped to the bone with imminent bankruptcy staring it in the face, Cross River approached the Federal Government to redress the “injustice” of the boundary adjustment and apply some political measures to enable the state to survive. The President is at present looking into the request. After all, it is not a strange thing in our history to do so.
When the Supreme Court ruled in a case filed by the Federal Government during the Obasanjo years that all oil outside the water margin level of the continental shelf would no longer be computed for derivation royalties to adjoining states, Akwa Ibom was effectively off the list of oil producing states.
Many non-oil producing states, especially Northerners and some states in the South West, rejoiced because this meant more money for them from the Federation Account. But former President Obasanjo applied some wisdom and decided, through a political solution, to allow sleeping dogs lie. Akwa Ibom was back on easy street, and we rejoiced with it.
And now that President Yar’ Adua is also exploring a political solution to enable Cross River to meet its bills and the needs of its citizens, Akwa Ibom is refusing to cooperate! They are fighting to keep the 76 oil wells unjustly handed to them on a platter of gold by Abuja-based federal agencies. They do not want the Federal Government to do for Cross River what it did for them to enable them survive.
They are refusing to be their brother’s keepers. It is none of their business if their neighbour starves; the same neighbour that provided them shelter and made it possible for them to claim to be “Calabar Boys” when the going was not so good for Akwa Ibom people. That is not nice.
It is not in the interest of anybody if Cross River, the only state with most of its rainforest still intact, dies an economic death as a result of losing its natural resources to diabolical federal politics. How will it develop Obudu, the nation’s number one tourism brand? How will it switch on Tinapa, the nation’s premier business resort? How will it pay its bills?
Let us not alienate Cross River people and make them feel unwanted in Nigeria. The recent petition that Dr. Matthew Mbu and his group wrote to the President on this matter was a reflection of what the people of that state feel. Let me say it again.
Akwa Ibom, please be nice. Everything that goes round comes round. The tide of federal politics can change again, and as before, you will look for help.
Ochereome got it slightly wrong in the use of such strong, evocative word as “unjust”. The history of the oil wells in contention is clear. It was Akwa Ibom’s until 2005 when Obasanjo’s FG ‘handed’ them over to Cross River in consolation in order to fulfil its civil war commitment (digression: A war fought by FG in deliberate effort to exterminate a race. Saro-Wiwa et al hailed. Today, it is their/everybody’s turn!!). Then Cross River’s Donald Duke would rather seek judicial intervention than brotherly discussion as wished Akwa Ibom’s Victor Attah. Now, the table has turned. And my good friends in the National Assembly are hungrily or perhaps, angrily striking. Their Akwa Ibom folks are also sending key messages.
In truth, what comes around goes around. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. But Nigerians are averse to these time-tested truths. Remember, similar instance where oil wells which ought to be credited to Abia and Imo have eternally been credited to Rivers for sinister yet clear reasons of contempt for South East which dared stood up, even momentarily, to the Nigerian Leviathan.
Akwa Ibom and Cross River states are inhabited by good peoples. Same go for Rivers and Imo and Abia. But, oftentimes, official misdeeds haunt even good peoples. The remedy is due process. When wrong happens to or visits your neighbour please condemn/fight it. The next bus-stop could be your doorstep.
Ifeoma , i can really see the “love” in this Nnanna fable, calling us names, I will not want to delve into analysing your write up bcos i know what it will degenerate to, let sleeping dogs lie. As for nnanna , this write up shows how he performed in class, , copying other students assignments without going thruogh it himself, he must have been a poor student, You want to write the history of Akwa Ibom and Cross River without doing a proper research, it is very poor of you!. meanwhile , how much were you paid to distort history? You are just cheap! Akwa Ibom made what ever calabar in particular is today just because it was the former capital of South eastern State. Your reference to people from Calabar as being very proud and epicurean, i wonder what are were proud of, are they proud of akwa Ibom sweat or is laziness pride?, Meanwhile what is the population of these “Very proud Calabar people”? Give me a list of these of these very very proud calabar people that have made a mark in Nigeria, and compare the list with achievements of Akwa Ibom people. I think you should say that the Akwa Ibom people are always proud bcos they do exploits anyway they go. Let me tell you categorically, no amount of blackmail can deter akwa Ibom from moving forward, the 76 oil wells are Akwa Ibom propertty and will always be,so CROSS RIVER PLEASE BE NICE!!
Acording to Ochereome Nnanna, A Ibom should be nice, and of course A Ibom is in inumerable ways nice – opening door to every group or persons to live freely in A Ibom. The one time so called “Calabar Boy” has been struggling to take charge of his destiny; now is the time. He has evolved from his “minicry” living it behind for others like Ochereome Nnanna to take turn. The good thing is that “Calabar Boy” was honest hence was always entrusted. No surprise then as the higest position of trust in the country as the First Governor of the Central Bank given to him.
The problem between the two sisters Calabar and Akwa ibom will be settled among them because both care for each other. It does not call for an external agent. Ochereome Nnanna should stay clear than incur the wrath of the people as some are already making it a personal attack. Calabar, unfortunately, is the victim of circumstance civilly morgaged to pay the price of the war it did not cause. The Federal political tide has changed to favour the underdog – this is the marvel of Providence of All High powers. What can we do, Ochereome Nnanna?
Initially I did not want to say a word concerning this article, but when I remembered that we are a set of people who are not far from the primitive era. It is not been long since the whites resolved not to buy our children any more, I felt I should say few words. It is unfortunate to have ‘writers’ who are so parochial in reasoning such that they flounder from expedience to the opposite.
To insult a people be it the Igbos, Yorubas or any other tribe in Nigeria is not a solution to the poverty that is confronting Nigeria. Nigerians of the Igbo tribe are hungry that is why have majority of them in all forms of crime, from robbery to ritualism. Like wise the people of the Ibibio tribe are hungry and they take to ’servitude’ to fight against that hunger.
The solution to all these should be the way forward and not to insult anybody, we should pass this level. We should start laying emphasiz on how to give all our children education and be sincere with any form of resources we have. I am not saying that they should give all the oil wells to Akwa Ibom or any other state. A state like Cross River State has what it takes to take care of the citizens of that State. If the Federal Government is sincere it should help that state to harness the potentials of tourism which it has to make that State a tourist center in Nigeria which it deserves. They should allow the export free zone programme to work.
For the information of all of us, the greatest consumer of oil the United States of America has started exploring alternative to it. And if they succeed which I strongly believe they will because of the zeal and sincerity they put in thier work I wonder what will be the source of our survival. Our leaders from the Igbo, Yoruba, Housa, Calabar, Ibibio and all the governors and their cohorts should start experiment drinking the oil to see if it will quench our hunger.
Anthony Edet
Atlanta
As an avid reader of the Ochereom Nnanna column, I understand the intents of this article -love. The author simply called for unity and a demonstration of love between the sister states. Everything else in the article are not really substantive enough to warrant direct attacks on the person of Nnanna. If anything, these attacks in this comments column portray Akwa Ibom people as a very wicked and short sighted people. Personally I believe that wickedness is arguably Nigeria’s biggest problem. Wickedness caused all the problems we had in the past and it is causing current ones. For someone to make reference to the Biafran genocide as a justifiable “lesson” or “punishment” for the Igbo for questioning the injustice of 1966 and 1967 show that such people have not learned anything from history. Personally, I as an Igbo (determind to learn from history) believe that the most foolish thing for any Igbo to do is to sympathise with anyone in the South South region for anything whatsoever. Ochereome should concentrate his writing energy and time to issues that affect ndigbo in Nigeria. Nigeria stands on a tripod -no matter the ill fated attempts (by envious neighbors) to deny us our position in Nigeria. Ndigbo (the most hard working tribe in Nigeria) should work with the Hausa (the ruling tribe) and Yoruba (the most accommodating tribe in Nigeria) to continue ruling Nigeria. That is our God given position in Nigeria. We must not loose it by caring about savage hatred in the South south.
Mr. Ochereome Nnanna, You’re the type who bought education certification from rotten Nigeria educational system. You’re elitist Iboman who sees himself as most superior person than the Ibibio people. The Ibibio oil money was used in developing the headquarter of Eastern Nigeria[Enugu]. As one of the Biafrans who is bent on ridiculing the Ibibio people, you’ll fail as Biafra did. Mr. Nnanna, you’re a syco,& that’s all I can say to idiot as you.
The rule of law should take effect,it is the Cross River state government that toke AIBOM people to the court of law twice,this will serve as a big lession in future.
Cross River be nice
Ochereome Nnanna, Well I read your publication with great dismay fwhy you should insult the people of Akwa Ibom State with all manners of sarcastic words. Well, before any further publications please, conduct a thorough investigation so as to ascertain your article for people to read. For your infromation, Akwa Ibom State is also made of Annang Speaking people where the present Governor is identified. Akwa Ibom and Cross River are sister states, no doubt but, Akwa Ibom as a state that has very huge responsibility to cater for her people. An average Akwa ibom man is very accommodative. Meanwhile, If you have an issue bothering you with your sister, and you cannot settled such differences amicably, you prefer court to do it better, what do you expect, The rule of law has now prevailed, what else?. The 13 percent is not even enough what we need is Resource Control. 76 Oil Wells justly handed over to Akwa Ibom is credit to the people of Akwa Ibom. Finally, this rightly judgement should be seen by the people of Cross River State that the truth must be told one day, and it has come. This should serve as an eye opener to politicians , that it doesn’t really matter how smart they may think they are that one day what was usurped wrongfully because of position with evil intention must come back to the owner. I pray for good governance. The people of Cross River Stateshould be nice always not to claim what does not belong to them.
Ocherenome Nnana if I am correct should be from Abiriba…and unfortunately for some writers know the Calabar area more than the present generation of Akwa Ibom descendants…Nnana was delving into the history of the area well before the creation of Akwa Ibom.
The people who most contributed to uplifting the area, are the generation that benefited from the Ibibio Union largesse …the two most prominent being Udo Udoma and the irrepressible Eyo Uyo. I hope Jeff was referring to this man instead of Eyo Ita who was not around when states were created. Ita was the leader of government business in the Eastern Region. Ibi-ibio stands for short item and not Ibio-ibo…there is nothing like the latter. Eyo Uyo was the only Ibibio man who openly made a statement asking for the creation of Akwa Ibom. Obasanjo is alive to tell the story of how Prof. Udoh the then Deputy Vice Chancellor of University of Ibadan led a delegation which prostrated before him asking for Akwa Ibom NOT to be created. Esuene, Isong, etc…came to enjoy the fruits of others…there is nothing on record that they took part in any agitation for COR State that led to the creation of South Eastern State.
Every society rests on laws, and unfortunately there is no legal document or Supreme Court judgment that has settled the boundaries of the two states. If and when that happens, and CRiver loses the oil wells, so be it. What is most fraudulently omitted is that they are Efik people in present day Akaw Ibom who were driven out from their homeland and are languishing in refugee camps in Ikot Ekpo in Calabar, they were driven out of Oku Iboku and its environs well before the Bakassi incident. Ibaka is Efik land and to buttress this, the grandfather of Etubom Bassey Ekpo Bassey has his Ekpe Shrine there and is also his final resting place. Bassey was the erstwhile challenger to the Obong of Calabar throne.
Thus there is nothing wrong with AIbom taking all the oil wells if that is what the law requires, all the Calabar descendants are asking is that AIbom treat the Efik in their midst fairly and recognize that AIbom is made up of FOUR ethnic groups instead of THREE.