RismadarVoice Reporters
January 23, 2026
Controversy has reignited over the ownership of the Stubbs Creek Forest Reserve, an oil-rich tract in Mbo Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State, as the Unyenge community openly disputed claims by the Ekid people, insisting the land falls within Unyenge territory.
The Ekid people had cited a 1918 Privy Council judgment and documentary evidence from a 1998 compensation exercise to assert ownership of the reserve.
However, the Akwa Ibom State government and Unyenge leaders have rejected these claims.
The state’s Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General, Mr Uko Udom (SAN), clarified that the Privy Council ruling of Ntiaro and Ikpak v. Ibok Etok Akpan and Edoho Ekid did not vest ownership of the land in any ethnic group.
He explained that the area was lawfully constituted as a forest reserve by the colonial government under Forest Reserve Order No. 45 of 1930, with subsequent amendments in 1941, 1955, and 1962, and that principal rights over the reserve were forfeited to the government.
Speaking to Journalists in Unyenge on Thursday, community leader Mr Bassey Ekpimah described the Ekid claim as unfounded and said the land had “remained silent” while others sought to exploit it.
“The disputed land does not belong to Eket, nor to Ibeno. It is part of Unyenge land,” Ekpimah said, adding that Unyenge shares a direct boundary with Ibeno but not with Eket.
He also asserted that the BUA refinery site falls within Unyenge territory.
Ekpimah accused the Ekid people of distorting facts to gain control of the reserve, which he described as geographically removed from Eket.
He listed numerous settlements within the reserve, including Urua Inyang, Inne Mmayen, Attak Ntokono, Inne Ufeh, Utie Mmi, Ndanga Avinghi, Ede Apah Unyenge, Attak Mmansang, and others, where residents have historically paid royalties and tributes to Unyenge.
Another community leader, Chief Itama Ekpe, recalled that Eket had previously taken Unyenge to court in 1994 over the forest reserve but lost, including the appeal filed in Calabar.
He argued that claims by Eket and Esit Eket were based primarily on ancestral ownership, noting that “residency or economic activities do not confer ownership of land.”
The dispute over the 310.8-square-kilometre Stubbs Creek Forest Reserve continues to generate tension among neighbouring communities, especially given the strategic economic importance of the area.
