Primetime News recently sat down with Ntufam Barr. Mba Ukweni SAN, a Calabar-based human rights lawyer, to discuss the controversial eviction of cocoa allottees who had obtained allocations during the administration of former Governor Ben Ayade. Despite a court order, the new administration of Governor Bassey Otu has enforced military presence at the cocoa estate, preventing allottees from accessing their farms. Barr. Ukweni, in this interview with Primetime News, sheds light on this issue and other related matters.
Primetime News: Can you introduce yourself?
Barr. Mba Ukweni SAN: I am Ntufam Barr. Mba Ukweni, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, practicing law here in Calabar, Cross River State.
Primetime News: There have been reports that military personnel have taken permanent residence at the government-owned cocoa estate in Etung, preventing allottees from the Ben Ayade administration from accessing their farms. This is despite a court order restraining the state government from evicting them. What is your take on this?
Barr. Mba Ukweni SAN: I don’t know who deployed the military there, but given the ongoing court proceedings, it’s safe to assume that the same people opposing the allottees are responsible. This is unlawful. The military has no business involving itself in civilian matters, especially where no war or security threat exists. These allottees entered into valid agreements with the government, paid for their allocations, and even have a court order permitting them to remain. Bringing in the military to evict them is outright lawlessness.
It’s essential to uphold the rule of law. When government officials refuse to obey the law, they end up being consumed by the anarchy they create. Remember the #EndSARS protests? It was the same people in power who became the targets and had to hide. Maintaining law and order benefits them more than the common people, yet they act otherwise. The military’s presence is an extension of the Cross River State government’s unlawful actions.
The state government has now admitted involvement by joining the fundamental rights lawsuit we filed on behalf of Dr. Oscar Ofuka. The Attorney General even applied to be part of the case, acknowledging that the state violated Ofuka’s rights. The government is behind this, and we now know whom we are up against.
Primetime News: Given the current situation, what do you see as the way forward?
Barr. Mba Ukweni SAN: We will pursue the necessary legal steps. Now that the Cross River State government has taken responsibility for the military presence at the estate, they will be held accountable for any harm done to our clients. The government has acknowledged its involvement, so it’s clear who is responsible.
Primetime News: There is a petition against you from the Assistant Inspector General (AIG) of Police. What’s your response to that?
Barr. Mba Ukweni SAN: The AIG wrote a petition to the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) claiming I went to the police station and released a murder suspect. I found this laughable. The President of the NBA sent me a copy of the petition, and I couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity. It’s ironic that the same AIG, whom I restrained myself from petitioning for his disregard of the rule of law, is accusing me of such misconduct.
Primetime News: You mentioned restraining yourself from writing a petition against the AIG. Can you clarify?
Barr. Mba Ukweni SAN: Yes, I held back from writing a petition against him because it would likely have led to his removal from office. He blatantly disobeyed a court order to release Dr. Ofuka, even after the court bailiff and police officers repeatedly approached him. I had to personally intervene to ensure Ofuka’s release. Despite this, the AIG had the audacity to file a petition against me, ignoring the court’s order.
Primetime News: Don’t you think your actions could be perceived as lawless?
Barr. Mba Ukweni SAN: Absolutely not. It is the AIG and his associates who acted lawlessly by disobeying a court order. The police officers on duty were following the law, but the AIG chose to detain them for carrying out their duties. It’s absurd that the AIG thinks he’s above the law, yet he refuses to charge Ofuka, even after a court order was issued for his release.
Primetime News: Those supporting the government claim that the documents presented by Dr. Ofuka regarding the cocoa farms’ lease are fake. How do you respond to that?
Barr. Mba Ukweni SAN: Are they saying the documents prepared by the Attorney General of the state are fake? What about the money paid by the cocoa allottees into the government’s coffers? Is that fake too? The state hasn’t attempted to return the money, nor has the Attorney General denied preparing the agreements. The government took the allottees’ money, paid off the debts owed to landlord communities, and used part of it to regenerate the cocoa estate. Now they want to turn around and deny the allottees the opportunity to benefit from their investment? That’s fraudulent behavior.
Primetime News: What do you believe is motivating the government’s actions?
Barr. Mba Ukweni SAN: It’s simple: greed. The government is trying to evict the allottees so they can hand over the cocoa estate to their cronies. They’re using force to drive people off the land that was lawfully allocated to them. This is nothing but an abuse of power, and it’s unacceptable.
Government’s actions are a clear case of fraud. After collecting money from the allottees, settling debts, and regenerating the estate, they want to deny these people the fruits of their investment. We won’t stand for this. We will continue to challenge these illegal actions in court.
The main essence is for these same people that are pursuing them to drive them away from those estates and take over the estates from them and allocate to their cronies or make use of them that’s all. This is bad ! Who has ever heard that government would do businesses and stop in their own tenure, because one of the things I have been hearing is that those agreement were for six years, they were beyond the term of Ayade and so what?, when they collected money beyond six years to pay the land lord communities and to regenerate the estates, did they not know that the money government was collecting was going to be beyond six years? So, if the crops are now good enough for the people who legitimately paid those money into coffers of the state government to reap from the benefit of their investment, and one begins to say they shouldn’t go there because a new government has come into power ,who told them that? Okay, a new government should go and plant their new estates, because it is not the new government that planted the estates. The cocoa estate was planted by previous administration of Okpara. Government they said it continuum.If the new government is saying that the previous government cannot enter into a contract beyond the tenure of that government, then the new government did not plant those estates, it should go and plant its own estates.
