By Nsan Ndoma-Neji, Calabar
An aggrieved cocoa farmer of Ajassor community, in Etung Local Government Area of Cross River State, Mark Prince, accused by former government official of allegedly ceding 32 hectares of Abonita Cocoa Estate to himself, has reacted to claims made by the former government official, Dr. Oscar Ofuka.
Ofuka had in media report asked the Cross River State government to prosecute Prince over the 32 hectares of cocoa plot, at the state government owned cocoa estate, which Ofuka alledged had been illegally ceded to Prince.
Reacting to the issue in an the interview with our correspondent in Calabar yesterday, Prince described the alarm raised by Ofuka as unnecessary, and false, probably to attract public sympathy.
He stressed that the call on the Cross River State government to clamp down on him just because he want to attempt to claim what rightly belongs to him is an act that is condemnable.
He said, “Why would someone ask the state government to come after me in a matter that had already been thrown away by the state High Court, sitting in Etung Local Government Area of Cross River State and ordered that the property in question was my late father’s property.
He stressed that Ofuka and his cohorts made a claim that they have consent judgement, which was secured at the Ikom High Court on July 5, 2022.
He added, “This reaction had become neccesary because the contentious 32 hectares of cocoa plot is a property owned by my father, late Chief Ogar Asam’s family, which happened to be his family property.
Claiming that the matter had been
settled already in court and judgment passed in his favour, he accused Ofuka of trying to take what rightly belongs to him away from him.
He debunked the allegation made by Ofuka that soldiers were used to chase legitimate contractors away from the contentious cocoa plot.
Prince said, “Alarm raised by Ofuka that I used soldiers to intimidate and harassed cocoa contractors at Abonita estate is a complete lie and fake news.”
Ofuka, whose tenure as Special Adviser, SA, had elapsed and expired, is doing everything humanly possible to usurp the cocoa plot owned by my late father.
“I have document showing a letter which my father wrote to Cross River State Ministry of Agriculture, alerting them that he possessed that land, and the Ministry of Agriculture approved the letter and withdrew their staff, after the ministry accepted to hand over the land in question to my late father in 1976.
“Let me bring to your notice that of all former cocoa allocation chairmen, who had serve in that capacity, none had included that portion in any of the allocations, until when Ofuka came on board and began to make trouble to an extent that we dragged each other to the state House of Assembly.”
He stressed that the disagreement landed them before five-man committee of the 8th House of Assembly, chaired by Rt. Hon. Stephen Ukpukpen; and the committee came up with a resolution saying that his late father was the bonafide owner of the property.
He enthused, “Because it didn’t augur well with Ofuka, he thereafter approached the immediate past governor Prof. Ben Ayade, who decided that the five-man committee should look into the matter.
“At the end of that exercise, the committee drew up a resolution that the contentious parcel of land was my father’s property and warned that no allocation be made henceforth on the land in question.
“The consent judgement paraded by Ofuka is fake and has no effect on this issue.”
