… as Court disbands Cross River Cocoa Allocation Taskforce, surveillance team
Ifako village, a local community in Odukpani Local Government Area of Cross River State, has been plagued by the lack of government presence and basic amenities, leading its residents to appeal for urgent intervention from the state authorities.
A fact-finding visit to Ifako to assess the extent of development in the community saw the indigenes painting a distressing picture of their community, where vital infrastructure and social services remain elusive.
One of the major challenges faced by the community is the lack of access to electricity. “It is very disturbing to note that we have been cut off from the national grid for more than nine years now,” laments Obon Ita Okon, the chairman of the Okoyong Traditional Rulers Council, noting, “We have been living in darkness, only seeing electricity when we travel out of our community. This is very distressing, and we have endured it for too long.”
Okon’s concerns are echoed by the dire state of the community’s road network and education system. “We have no good motorable roads in our villages,” he says, as “our people can’t take their agricultural products to the township, which is disheartening. As we speak, we have no secondary schools, and our children have to trek to other villages to attend school.”
Deno Okon Akiba, a retired civil servant, supports Okon’s statements, highlighting the additional challenge of primary school tuition fees despite the state government’s policy of free education. “It is no longer news that since the state governor, Sen. Prince Bassey Edet Otu, announced free tuition for children in primary schools from 5 to 10 years, our children still pay normal school fees in Ifako,” Akiba says, and “we don’t sleep with both eyes closed, as we have no police post in our area.”
Akiba pleads for the establishment of a police station and a healthcare centre in Ifako-Okoyong to enhance the community’s security and access to medical services. “I wish to use this opportunity to call on the police authority to urgently establish a police post in Ifako-Okoyong to help check the excesses of insecurity in our community,” he says, and “I also appeal to the state government to come to Ifako-Okoyong and establish a health centre to enable our people access quality healthcare and quick health services, as is the case in other communities across the state.”
The lack of basic amenities has severely impacted the lives of the Ifako residents, particularly those who rely on farming. Mrs. Edet, a farmer and petty trader, laments the ongoing theft of crops and properties due to the absence of a police presence. “Since there is no police post in Ifako-Okoyong, theft continues on a daily basis, taking away people’s properties and crops from our farmlands,” she says, saying, “I am therefore sending my humble appeal to the state police command to please come to our aid and put a police sub-station here so that we can live without fear of the underworld.”
The situation in Ifako-Okoyong serves as a clarion call on the state government to look into the glaring disparities in unequal development and resource allocation across Cross River State. While some communities thrive and progress, others, like Ifako, continue to suffer.
Despite their struggles, the people of Ifako remain hopeful that their cries for help will finally reach the ears of the state government. They believe that the government holds the power to transform their community and significantly improve their quality of life.
Meanwhile, a High Court sitting in Effraya, Etung Local Government Area of Cross River State has granted motion exparte disband the state Cocoa Allocation Surveillance team from operating at the government cocoa estate.
The court placed the injunction order restraining the team from harassing allottees of government cocoa farms in Etung Local Government of the state. The order came five days after the Otu’s administration issued a statement suspending activities of the surveillance team, barring them from operating at government Cocoa Estate in the state.
The court, presided over by Justice Amajama Eneji, after the proceedings, adjourned the matter to May 23, 2024, after a counter affidavit to the motion on notice and statement of defense was filed by counsel to Cross River State government, Barr. Woda Ogar.
In a brief interview with journalists at the court premises, counsel to Cross River State government, Wada Ogar, said, “I just came today to find out that there were 27 others recently filed.
“The application ex parte was all taken today and had been variously adjourned to May 23rd for hearing of the motion on notice. But what I came here for was suit no. HA/16, 17 and 18, 2024, which have been served on me and I have filed my responses.
“Well, it is the allegation of the claimants that some hooligans are taking over the plots over which we are in court, harassing the people and all that. That is why in the first place, they brought an application ex parte to restrain those people and then they alleged that, surveillance committee set up by the government was being used to perpetrate illegalities, because of that, the court made another ex parte which had gone viral.”
Counsel to the claimant, Mba Ukweni, SAN, averred that he and his clients (claimants) came to court to take a motion for interlocutory injunction to restrain the government and its agents, her appointees from interfering with allottees of government cocoa farms.
“So, we were served with their counter affidavit yesterday but, my learned friend for the defendant was gracious enough to bring to the attention of the court that from which ever perspective whether the government was not aware of the pendency of the matter made by the court which they have or from other sources for other reason decided that they should disband the taskforce, which my colleague brought to the attention of the court.
“We had to leverage on it and said if the government itself has now discovered that the activities of members of the taskforce and the people they are using to harass people in the estate is illegal, the court should give a stamp of legal authority to that and restrain them.
“So the court agreed with both of us and has made the order which is as good as an interlocutory injunction. It is an order of court restraining them so,the status quo remains, parties have to continue with what they are doing.
“The people who had been allotted estate cocoa farms have to continue with the allocation because that is the status quo. As of January, they have already been led into possession, so they have to be in possession and do their work.”
