By Nsan Ndoma-Neji, Calabar
Former Special Advisers, SA, on Cocoa Development and Control to Prof. Ben Ayade, the immediate past governor of Cross River State, Ntufam Dr Oscar Ofuka, yesterday in Calabar urged Governor Bassey Otu and the 10th state House of Assembly to rise up to the task in the recovery of 32 hectares of state government cocoa plots ceded by one Mark Prince to himself without respect to court order, which ordered him to vacate the 32 hectares of cocoa plot.
Ofuka dropped the charge while reacting to allegations by some farm contractors that he had become quiet, even when he is aware that genuine farm contractors at Abonita government-owned Cocoa Estate were chased away by one Mr. Mark Prince, who claimed that the 32 hectares of cocoa at Abonita belongs to his late father.
The immediate past SA stated that should government fail to arrest the invaders, more encroachment should be expected and probably subsequent take over of more hectares of the cocoa estate by disgruntled people in the host communities.
Ofuka said, “There is a valid court order in 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 for any other person to rise up and take over governent land. If this persist, it would become survival of the fittest.”
Stressing that paragraph three of the consent judgement, which he read from, stated that “the 32 hectares in Abonita cocoa estate, Etung Local Government Area of Cross River State, alledgely ceded to family of Mark Prince remains a property of state government,” Ofuka pointed out that a high court judgement had given an order that Mark Prince should vacate the 32 hectares.
Ofuka averred that if the issue is not tackled on time by the governent of the day, the development can lead to loss of huge governent revenue in a state which had already lost its littoral status following the ceding of Bakassi to the Republic of Cameroon and loss of it’s 76 oil wells to a sister state.
Recalled that a Cross State High Court, sitting in Ikom, had on July 5, 2022, gave an order that cocoa lease allocation under small holder scheme will not be taken over from lessees, not even by government or it’s agents outside the terms of it’s lease.
Again the court had in Suit No: HM/73/2020 ordered that the 32 hectares in Abonita cocoa estate, Etung Local Government Area if Cross River State, alledgely ceded to Mark Prince’s family is still property of state government.
“I charged state governor to sent security men to protect government farms from balcanization so as to block that loopholes where governent is about to loose one of it’s sources of revenue.
Ofuka said further, “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.
“If you allow a single individual to get away with governent property, there is tendency for many, who are likely going to make encroachment into the cocoa estate to take away ownership of the estate from government.
“As a critical stakeholder in cocoa sector, it would 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.”
Confirming the incident in a telephone conversation, an aggrieved contractor, Mr. Njor Asu, who claimed to be one of the contractors of Abonita cocoa estate decried the take-over of the 32 hectares by hoodlums.
He narrated his ordeal, “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 the cocoa and made away with the produce.”
But in a swift reaction to the issue, Mark Prince Leku stated that the cocoa plot that had been in contention was his father’s farm land, encroached upon by state government decades ago.
Mark Prince maintained that the 32 hectares originally belongs to his family, stressing that it was the governent that release the cocoa plots to his family after he discovered some papers to the property.
In a telephone convensation with the Army Public Relations Officer, Captain Dorcas Aluko, on the issue, she promised that “I will get back to you once I get to the commander of Afi Barracks Ikom before I can say anything.”
