By Johnbosco Agbakwuru, Calabar

The Ntan Obu Ukpe in Eniong, Odukpani Local Government Area of Cross River State was on Wednesday May 23, nearly annihilated by the Ikpanya community of Ibiono Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State over the struggle for a piece of land that is rich in mineral deposits and alluvial products.

At the last count, about 40 persons have been reported dead, an octogenarian and village head of the Ntan Obun community, Etinyin Mfon Asanye beheaded and body thrown into the river, while four policemen who were among the security operatives were allegedly beheaded.

In the invasion carried out at the early hours of the Wednesday with the alleged support of the Fulani herdsmen, over 2,000 indigenes of the riverine community had been chased out of their ancestral home and rendered homeless, while all the buildings in the community were leveled except one Presbyterian Church and another one belonging to the Pentecostal fold.

Most pathetic was the beheading of all the victims of the attack including children who were not spared and the river which serves as the source of drinking water was polluted and desecrated with the dead bodies of the victims and even covered with blood.

Narrating the barbaric attack, Chairman of Odukpani Local Government Area, Hon. Stephen Asuquo in an emotional laden voice said said, “The remote cause I can say is the struggle by people from Ikpanya for the land that belongs to the Ntan Obu. Ikpanya is in Ibiono local government council of Akwa ibom state while Ntan Obu is in Odukpani local government area of Cross River state.

“Something akin to this took place a year ago and the deputy governors of the two states met and agreed that everything should return to status quo ante belle and that is the position before the conflict. The supreme court judgment has ruled that the land belongs to the Odukpani and the people of Odukpani are Cross River state indigenes.

“So the struggle for the land started when the people from Ikpanya tried to lease out Ntan Obu land to cattle rearers to rear their cattle there. You can appreciate it because it is a flop play. Once the rain subsides and the waters recede, the land leaves alluvial product on the land which acts as a natural fertilizer to the vegetation. So, I am appealing to the cattle rearers, we don’t mind cattle rearers being there but you must recognize the overlords and not that of the neighbouring community.

“We are yet to ascertain the number killed because the people they killed, they beheaded and then threw the corpse into the river. The village head was killed and beheaded, we could recognize his body from the attire he wore the day before the attack. The name of the village head is Etinyin Mfon Asanye.

“Some people managed to escape; some jumped through the swamp and jumped into the river. It happened in the wee hours of the morning . When the invaders got there, they set loose all the boats and engine boats that were there to stop the people from escaping and started attacking them. It was in the early hours of the morning.

One of the burnt houses

“There was complete destruction of the place, the only two buildings that are standing are two churches, but the churches were looted, the musical instruments were all carted away. Some of the displaced persons are in Asan Eniong and nearby villages. We are appealing to government that they should use the church building and the few of the buildings that were not completely destroyed for the displaced people, while we try to see what we can do to appease them.”

The Council Chairman disclosed that the community is made up of about 2,000 people and that as a measure to provide security, the Mobile Police Unit commander/the leader of the troop was on ground  doing his best.

He further added, “But before then, after the first incident, we had a few number of policemen who were there. Out of the nine who were there, four are still missing up till now, we are suspecting that they may have been murdered and beheaded and we are suspecting that some were dragged to the swamp. We saw some police uniform at the swamp with blood stain.

“This last invasion is completely destructive. It is a carnage. They killed four mobile policemen who are stationed there. What happened was total annihilation; they carted away all the relief materials. The invaders came with sub machine guns.”

Asuquo appealed to the federal government to intervene and act on the judgment of the Supreme Court of June 24, 2005, which had ceded the place to the Odukpani local government area and also demarcate the boundary between Cross River and Akwa Ibom state to ensure that people from each side keep to their side and if they are coming here, they will come as tenants and they will be welcomed and not as invaders.

“This last invasion is completely destructive. It is a carnage. They killed four mobile policemen who are stationed there. What happened was total annihilation; they carted away all the relief materials. The invaders came with sub machine guns.”

Also commenting on the invasion of the community, the paramout ruler of Odukpani Local Government Area, Asakara Ekanem Umo said, “It has been on for some time now. The last incursion was so large in destruction. The fight had left the community completely destroyed, broken down the whole village and spared only the church but there is nothing inside the church.

“They cleared everything in the church including the band and the community primary that is what they left there. They killed quite a number of people including an elderly man of 87 years. They were beheaded and some of them dumped inside the water.

“Children and women were not spared and in the process, they killed four mobile police men who were stationed there for security. It happened this past week. We have been running helter skelter to see what we can do for the people who are affected.”

The paramount ruler said that most Ntan Obu-Ukpe indigenes have deserted their residence and become refugees in different parts of Odukpani. He called on the State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA, to provide relief materials to the affected victims of the area.

He also called on the government to bring out measures to prevent further occurrence in the area even as he said, “the first crises that happened, we reported to the government and government went into it which led to the deputy governors of both states meeting. “We are border communities. They went in after the incursion and saw the destruction they did and both condemned in totality the barbaric tendencies of their Ibibio neighbour, Ikpanya.”

Asakara Umo who is a retired Colonel in the Nigerian Army and a medical doctor noted that the Ntan Obu people were just trying to pick their lives to see whether they can reconstruct their homes before the attack and that the invaders carted away all the zincs, cement, fishing boats and fishing nets around the place. He revealed that the two boys that escaped narrated to them that the attackers came with sophisticated weapons.

On the cause of the problem, he said that Ipanya people claimed they owned the Ntan Obu-Ukpe. He said that Ntan Obu-Ukpe has been in existence for a very long time and they have been living side by side. “Ntan Obu-Ukpe people were getting labour from them  in harvesting palm fruits. Ipanya claimed the Ntan Obu-Ukpe is their territory and in claiming that, leased the land to the Fulanis who rear their cattle. We have this luscious grass in Eniong creek that the Fulani’s herds men found  this useful for their cattle.

“So within the period of  dry season when the flood retreat, they come around and the Ipanya people would just put them in Ntan Obu-Ukpe  and in doing so, they would pollute the water, that creek water is what we drink. During that period of dry season when the flood have retreated is the only time of the period in the year that we do planting before the rain comes.”

One of the victims who managed to escape from the dungeon, Mr Emmanuel Tete said, “this thing happened around past six in the morning that day. I cleaned up, went into the toilet and after that, went into my house to eat. The next thing I heard was gunshots. They shot me. I fell down. The second one came to shoot me again but on seeing that blood was flowing all over my back, they thought I was dead and they left me, saying they did not want to waste bullet.

“I have three children. My wife escaped with one of them. So after they had gone, I managed to crawl into the backyard to get the remaining two. I carried them and swam across the river, with my wound, into the bush in the Akwa Ibom axis. Somebody I met now helped me with clothes. I went to one clinic in Ibiono  and they refused to treat me. But one woman gave me N1000.

“So, I take a bike  to Ikot Ekpene and went to the General Hospital there but they refused to treat me. I went to the police station there but the police said I should go to my state, let them treat me there. So ,since 10am, I left Ikot Ekpene around four in the evening to Calabar. Then I got to this clinic.”

The State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Osita Ezechukwu when contacted said that the Police were making efforts to unravel those behind the attack and the whereabouts of the mobile policemen that were drafted there to make peace.