Wevole Ezin, Calabar
Immediate past Special Adviser (SA) to Cross River State government on Cocoa Development and Control, Ntufam Oscar Ofuka has called on the state governor, Senator Bassey Otu and the 10th House of Assembly to wade in and recover 32 hectares of cocoa land that belongs to the state.
It was gathered that one Mr Prince Mark Leku allegedly encroached into the 32 hectares of land belonging to the state government, located at Abonita Cocoa Estate, in Etung local government area of the state and he claimed to be the original owner of the land.
Ofuka gave the charge while reacting to allegations by some farm contractors who were allegedly chased out of the land by soldiers contracted by Prince Leku .
While call on the new administration to to seek redress for contempt, the immediate past SA on Cocoa said there was a court order with Suit No:HM/73/2020 restraining Mr Prince from claiming the land.
Ofuka warned that if government should failed to rise up against the invaders, subsequent take over of more hectares of government cocoa estate will be snatch from it’s host communities.
He said, “There is a valid court order with Suit No:HM/73/2020 restraining him from taking over the 32 hectares. The state should seek redress in court for contempt.
“If that is not done definitely a precedence has been set up for any other person to rise up and take over government land. If this persist, it would become survival of the fittest” He warned.
Ofuka explained that paragraph three of the said judgement stated that 32 hectares in Abonita cocoa estate, in Etung LGA of Cross River State allegedly ceded to Mark Prince’s family is still a property of state government, that the court had ordered Mark Prince’s family to vacate the 32 hectares.
He added that such development could lead to loss of source of revenue in a state that had lost what he described as its littoral status due to ceding of Bakassi and loss of 33 oil wells to neighboring state, Akwa Ibom.
“Recalled that State High Court sitting in Ikom before his lordship Hon. Justice Eno Ebri, on July 5, 2022, ordered that cocoa lease allocation under small holder scheme will not be taken over from lessees not even by government or it’s agents outside terms of it’s lease.
“The court had in Suit No: HM/73/ 2020 ordered that the 32 hectares in Abonita cocoa estate, Etung LGA, allegedly ceded to Mark Prince’s family is still property of state government.
“I charged the state governor to send security men to protect government farms from encroachers. If the situation is not urgently arrested, we may likely not have what is called government cocoa estate again as more trespassers are warming up to make encroachment into the estate.
“As a critical stakeholder in cocoa sector, it will be bad if I sit down, fold my arms and watch things go wrong and allow people destroy the strides which we recorded in the cocoa sector.” He warned.
Confirming the incident in a telephone conversation, one of the aggrieved contractors Mr. Njor Asu, lamented,”We were chased away from the estate by a certain individual aided by soldiers from Afi Barracks Ikom.
“I ran alongside my workers and abandoned the heep of cocoa pods worth millions of naira and hoodlums took possession of cocoa and made away with the produce.” Asu maintained.
When contacted to react, Mark Leku, claimed that the cocoa plot that had been in contention was his father’s farm land encroached by state government decades ago.
He said that it was government that later released the cocoa plots to his family after he discovered some of the property’s papers.
When contacted to confirm the issue, the Army Public Relations Officer (PRO), Cross River State, Capt. Dorcas Aluko, simply said, “I will get back to you once I get to the commander of Afi Barracks Ikom before I can say anything.”
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