We Won’t Cede Any Abia Community to Neighbouring States, Says Government
Dr Alex Otti, governor of Abia State
The Abia State Government has firmly declared that it will not allow the encroachment of any part of its land belonging to Abia communities by neighbouring states.
The state’s Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Ikechukwu Uwanna, made this statement in response to a petition from residents of Akirika-Obu Ndoki, who alleged an invasion of their community by the Ika Annang people from Akwa Ibom State.
Speaking via telephone with our correspondent, Uwanna confirmed that the Ministry of Justice has been receiving multiple petitions from various communities regarding land encroachment.
He noted, however, that such issues fall under the jurisdiction of the Office of the Deputy Governor.
“As a responsive and responsible government, the Alex Otti administration will not sit idly by while our people suffer,” Uwanna stressed.
He further appealed to journalists covering the Akirika-Obu issue to submit a formal letter clearly identifying the specific matters they are seeking updates on, so that the ministry can respond with the relevant actions taken.
“I am currently in a meeting, but if the journalists reporting on the Akirika-Obu matter could write a letter pinpointing the particular issue in question, the ministry will then be able to inform them of the steps taken so far.
“We have been receiving petitions from different communities on encroachment. As a responsible government, we will not sit back and watch our people suffer,” he reiterated.
In a petition dated March 16, 2025—already sent to the Office of the Attorney General,the people of Akirika-Obu urged Governor Alex Otti to intervene swiftly. They alleged that some officials in his administration were secretly attempting to cede their community to Akwa Ibom State by inviting the National Boundary Commission (NBC) to adjudicate on what they described as an “age-long” issue.
The petition was officially signed by the community chairman, Chief Friday Clement Nna; secretary, Mr. Onyemachi Sampson Abia; community leader, Mr. Mercy Abel Ucheime; youth council chairman, Mr. Emma Mbacha; and a former councillor, Mr. Ikechi Ochonna. They said they were compelled to write the petition to protest what they called the “continuous unlawful occupation” of their land and facilities by the Akwa Ibom State government.
According to the community leaders, many residents have fled their homes and are now living in the bushes due to attacks by heavily armed Ika Annang youths, while the Abia State Government has allegedly turned a blind eye to their plight, even as lives are lost and properties destroyed.
In their words:“We write to protest the continued unlawful occupation of our community facilities by the Akwa Ibom State Government; the encroachment into our land; the unprovoked invasion and attacks on our people and Abia State road construction workers by Ika Annang youths; the total failure of the Abia State Government to protect us; and the current perfidious attempts by some state officials to reduce this crisis to a mere boundary dispute requiring the intervention of the National Boundary Commission.”
The petitioners further revealed that on March 20, 2025, they also wrote to the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), decrying what they described as “unlawful and crude actions” by soldiers from the Ibakwa Battalion Barracks in Abak, Akwa Ibom State. They accused the soldiers of aiding the Ika Annang militants in invading their community, halting road construction, and wreaking havoc.
