CLO PRESS RELEASE
CLO CAUTIONS AGAINST DISRESPECT OF ROYAL FATHERS IN AKWA IBOM, SETS UP COMMITTEE ON OML-13 PROJECTS IN MKPAT ENIN
Youth in Akwa Ibom State have been advised to be decorous and to refrain from insulting or casting aspersions on royal fathers or running down traditional institutions in the State.
This advice was given by the State Chairman of the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), Akwa Ibom State Branch, Otuekong Franklyn Isong, when some youth under the auspices of Ikpa Ibom Youth Forum (IIYF), paid an advocacy visit to the international human rights group in its office in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital on Friday, 9th September, 2022.
The CLO boss bemoaned the increasing spate of media attacks and insults on traditional institutions by certain people from the State, cautioning that those who indulge in such sacrilege stand the risk of ancestral curses.
The pro-democracy group advised youth in the State not to allow themselves to be used by unconscionable politicians to debase revered traditional personages and institutions. The CLO boss agreed with the youth group that the Oku Ibom Ibibio occupies an eminent pride of place in the comity of reverred natural rulers in the country, hence should be accorded respect and esteem at all times, asserting that 2023 elections will come and go but tradional institutions will remain.
The civil society organisation called on Akwa Ibom people to treat the Oku Ibom Ibibio and the traditional institutions with respect and deference.
The CLO likened the Oku Ibom Ibibio to the Emirs in the North and the Obas in the West, pointing out that it is sad that when an Akwa Ibom person visits an Emir, an Oba or the Olu of Warri, they pay obeisance to the Monarch, no matter how highly placed such an Akwa Ibom person is, whereas in Akwa Ibom State, neither the Oku Ibom Ibibio nor the traditional institution is treated with due respect.
On the complaints of the youth group against the operators of the OML-13 projects in Mkpat Enin local government area, the CLO boss stated that CLO has set up a five-man Fact Finding Committee to look into their complaint.
Earlier, the group had through its National President, Comrade Aniefiok Harry, pointed out that the organisation’s attention was drawn to a write-up on Facebook which disparaged the Oku Ibom Ibibio and the tradional institution in the State, stating that the youth group condemned the write up in its entirety.
Comrade Harry stated that as a foremost youth group in Ibibioland, they consider any insult on the Oku Ibom Ibibio, His Eminence, Ntenyin (Dr.) Solomon D. Etuk, as a direct attack on the entire Ibibio people, warning the perpetrators to desist from it.
He asserted that Ikpa Ibom youth of Mkpat Enin extraction will not sit down and watch the revered Ibibio traditional institution being pulled down no matter how highly placed in the society the culprit is.
The youth group commended the CLO for providing effective checks on the government by offering constructive criticisms and tracking government projects in the State to ensure that tax payers money are accounted for by the government.
The youth body drew attention of the CLO to what they called “unwholesome practices of the management of the OML-13 projects located in Ikpa Ibom and some parts of Mkpat Enin Local Government Area,” saying that the Operators of the Project, the NPDC/NOSL, have refused to comply with Nigeria’s Local Content Act and international best practices in their operations.
The youth group accused the management of the projects of using “divide and rule antics amongst Mkpat Enin stakeholders that have set the people against themselves and likely to cause communal conflict and disrupt the peace in Mkpat Enin, if not checked.”
The IIYF said it resolved to invite the CLO into the matter as a human rights organisation, noting that several peaceful entreaties made by the youth group to the projects’ management have not yielded any positive result.
They pleaded with the CLO to intervene and swiftly cause the management of the OML-13 Projects to respect all the resolutions it reached with Mkpat Enin critical stakeholders, which includes the Paramount Ruler of Mkpat Enin, Edidem Akpan Akpan Ekpene, in order to avert the looming crisis in the local government area.
Other members of the Ikpa Ibom Youth Forum (IIYF) who attended the occasion were: Comrade Akaninyene Ukarakpa, Vice President; Comrade Ime Morgan Secretary; Comrade Margaret UmohAbasi, Woman Leader 1; Comrade Samuel Jonathan Jack, Financial Secretary; Comrade Emmanuel Anthony, PRO 2; Comrade Emmanuel Douglas, Director of Welfare; Comrade Essien Essien, Ex-officio 3, and Comrade Paul Monday, Assistant Secretary.
Representing CLO at the meeting were: Otuekong Franklyn Isong, Chairman; Comrade Nsemeke Udoakpan, Vice Chairman; Comrade (Barr.) Christopher Ekpo, Secretary; Comrade (Barr.) Eyibio Okon, Legal Secretary, and Comrade (Rev.) David Essien.
Signed
Comrade (Barr) Christopher Ekpo
State Secretary of CLO.
Sunday, 11th September, 2022.
