The True Story Of Boki Oil Palm Estate, Borum

In 1963, four communities in Boki Local Government Area, comprising of Borum, Okubushuyu, Irruan (Katchuan/Kagwagom) and Osokom (Arogba, Ogep and Bafin Etitim) had their large expanse of land (5223 hectares) donated to the then ruling government of Eastern Nigeria for the purpose of agriculture and a farm settlement was established and called Boki Farm Settlement, Borum. These communities are referred to as Landlord communities.

However, other governments came in and changed the name from Boki Farm Settlement to Boki Oil Palm Estate, Borum and 1,735 hectares of land was used to plant palms. Subsequent governments in trying to foster an amiable relationship with the communities, requested for a committee of representatives of each landlord community to liaise with the government on behalf of the landlord communities on issues of collection of royalty for the communities and any other issues affecting the communities in relation to the existing government.

The tenure in each case has been five years, and during His Excellency Mr. Donald Duke’s tenure, government policy on the estate changed to small holders’ scheme and the estate was parcelated and allotted to successful allottees on five years tenure. At the expiration of the tenure, new allotments were made to new successful allottees. The government of His Excellency Sen. Liyel Imoke continued in the same vein. The present representatives known as Accredited Landlord Members were inaugurated by Chief Amb. M.T. Mbu in 2008 after duly nominated by their respective communities.

At about the same time the Privatisation Council was set up but never constituted with the intention of privatising the Boki Oil Palm Estate among other government assets. These outgoing landlords representatives resisted and refused the privatisation of the estate and went a step further in expelling one of their members who supported the idea and replaced him with Mr. Peter Owan.

It is worthy to note that each landlord representative is allocated 5 plots. At this same period two companies indicated interest in the privatization which were Wilmer and Prescoe.

In 2011 these two companies sent their representatives to the estate for inspection and site feasibility studies. They were held hostage in the bush by these same landlord representatives resisting the then government policy on privatisation. A ransom of N150,000 naira was demanded for their release. Since these men left, no other company has indicated interest in leasing the Boki Oil Palm Estate.

Accordingly they continued operating the estate even after the expiration of their tenure. Meanwhile, one Mr. Peter Ogar who was employed earlier as a casual worker in the estate was ascribed into the arrangement and made Manager of the Estate and they all operated around him with the support of the Secretary of the Privatisation Council, Barr. Amiye.

The allottees were paying their lease fees to Mr Peter Ogar who told them he was representing government and was paying same to the government account. Investigation by the audit and investigation bureau revealed that he had not been paying any of those monies to government accounts running into tens of millions. These monies were supposed to be IGR from the Estate to Government.

When Hon. MacTomy Agan the Special Adviser on Infrastructure discovered this fact, he sought the Governor’s consent to bring normalcy in the estate and generate revenue for the government. The Governor gave his consent and directed the Secretary to Government to issue him with a Mandate Letter to take over the estate and manage it so as to generate revenue for government. Based on this directives the Secretary to State Government issued the letter as directed. In a short period Hon. MacTomy generated a whooping sum of about ten million naira (N10,000,000) within the first month but for a period of eight years Mr Peter could only pay (N10,000,000) for the entire period and it was also discovered that the estate plots were allocated to fictitious names who were not traceable. It was further discovered that a militant group has been raised in the Oku community to protect them against any possible uprising of the rest of the community members.

After the Secretary to Government issued a letter mandating Hon. MacTomy to take over the estate, the Secretary to government set up a committee to regulate the activities of the Hon. MacThomy. Members of this committee were drawn from Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Justice, Office of the Chief of Staff, Office of the Deputy Governor and Office of the Secretary to Government. To further authenticate the transparency of the committee, two representatives were drawn from each landlord community. Hon. Mark Obi and Chief Gregory Asu represented the Oku Bushuyu community, Hon. Jake Otu Enyia and Hon. Tony Edako represented the Irruan community, Hon MacTomy Agan and Hon Hillary Bisong represented the Osokom Community while Hon Jonas Obi Otu and Barr Tina Agbor who is the Secretary to State Government represented the Borum community. Hon. George Ekpungu was also a member because he is from constituency II. Hon Mark Obi and Hon Jake Otu Enyia turned down the representation. The committee members nominated Barr. Tina Banku Agbor to chair the committee and nominated the representative of the Attorney General to be the secretary. This committee extended an invitation to the accredited landlord representatives for some discussions and explanations on the intention of government, they turned it down.

Meanwhile on the 28th of February 2017, these militants from Okubushuyu beat up one Michael Tawo from Osokom community. His offence was that he was supporting government policy. In response, the Osokom youths also mobilised and went to Mr Peter Ogar to ask for the release of their son Mr. Michael Tawo. Mr Peter Ogar is resident in Okundi an Osokom village while Mr. Michael Tawo was beaten up in Oku Peter and Mark’s village. This led to some problems and some people were arrested in the process and brought to Calabar.

Hon. Joseph Obi Bisong, the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Environmental and Conflict Resolution, fixed a meeting on the 10th of March 2017 in Kakwagom in Boki Local Government. This meeting was as a result of the brewing problems stemming from the resistance Hon. MacTomy met in the estate which has led to the arrest of Sir P.O. Bisong, Mr Peter Owan and Prince Paul Otu. Hon Obi Bisong called a meeting of illustrious sons and daughters of Boki in his house. In attendance were: Barr. Tina Banku Agbor, Hon Tony Edako, Hon Mark Obi, Prof Florence Obi, Hon Hillary Bisong, Pastor John Ewah. It was resolved in the meeting to collectively appeal to the police to release the arrested people and for the people to attend the meeting slated to hold in Kakwagom. That was done and the people were released and the meeting held in Kakwagom. All the clan heads of the four communities, their chairmen, their women leaders, twenty representatives nominated from each community and all political appointees and elected members of Boki II were invited and attended the meeting. (Please check the full video clip on YouTube titled “Boki peace meeting”).

At the meeting the chairman of the accredited landlord representatives admitted that they have overstayed their tenure and should be dissolved. Mr. Fidelis Edor complained of the militant terrorising him and a number of other people including their clan head in the community for supporting government decision on the estate. One Mr. Robert Obi Bisong confessed that he was recruited into that militant group but he decided with a number of others to denounce their membership and that he knew where the ammunition were kept, who was their leader, who was their sponsor and their training grounds. He further asked to be arrested so he can document his statement. Before that day after his denouncement his mother’s house was destroyed in the village by the militant group.

The Secretary to State Government, Barr. Tina Banku Agbor spoke and said she and Hon. MacThomy were carrying out the directives of the Governor on the estate and that she was obligated to react in this matter and all other matters concerning government, dutifully, responsibly and responsively without prejudice, fear or favour. So, Barr. Tina Agbor acted the script of the Government as she could have done nothing less.

The key issues that were identified in that meeting were;

(1) The issue of whether government should or should not take over the estate.

(2) The issue of the existence of the militant group and their illegal possession of fire arms, which are being used to terrorise members of the Oku community and neighbouring communities.

The following resolutions where reached.

(1) The accredited Landlord communities were dissolved and the four communities to nominate new members;

(2) The allottees should also be dissolved and plots be reallocated to new allottees on a one-man-one-plot basis;

(3) The option of small holders scheme was upheld against privatisation by one company;

(4) The clan head of Osokom and Ekpashi along with their counterparts to visit the Oku community to persuade the militants to surrender their arms.

A communiqué was raised to this effect.

A day after the meeting, Mr. Robert Bisong Obi who had testified in the Kakwagom meeting and had also reported to the police about his mother’s house having been destroyed, was accompanied by two police men from the Okundi Police station, to Oku to visit the destroyed house. The militants sighting them, got hold of them beat up the police men and abducted Mr. Robert Bisong Obi to their base. He was macheted on the head and threatened to be killed in the bush. The two police men ran for their dear lives and when they got to the station they reported the incident to the DPO.

The same day on the 11th of March 2017, this Mr. Iron went to another community called Borum with his second in command Mr. Ojie Bisong alias Bad daddy and was shooting into the air and the villagers accosted them but he managed to escape but the bad daddy was held by the villagers who made him pay a fine of a goat, N50,000 and some drinks which he did.

In spite of all these terror meted on the people, no police was sent to Boki, believing dialogue could solve the problems. The mobile police men were only deployed on the 17th of March to Okubushuyu to maintain peace since dialogue had failed. The gang on sighting them opened fire on them and two of the men were hit by their bullets. The two were taken away for treatment. Then in the process, the police arrested one member of the gang called Bottle and some other members who were sent to State Police Headquarters (Diamond Hill).

On the 19th of March 2017, these militants gang brought out their women to dance naked before the police, in the belief that this would bring bad luck to the police men and make them loose their direction. These women were used as a cover for the militants to attack the police, as they danced towards the police men, the militants opened fire on the police from behind the naked women and in the process police replied trying to save their lives.

In the gunfire that now ensured, three bullets caught three women and one of them died. The same day, four other police men were hit by bullets from their superior guns. At this point the police men ran off for their lives realizing that the militants had sophisticated weapons.

A few days later, the militants went to the house of the clan head and machete the man almost to dead, destroyed the houses of Mr. Fidelis Edor, Mr. Benedict Kekong, Chief Gregory Asu and burnt down Jude Njoku’s sawn wood in the forest.

As it stands now, a number of the members of the community who are supporting government decision have been rendered homeless and sent on exile. Those who are left in the community are terrorized and money extorted from them to fund their operations and purchase bullets or their weapons.

After a thorough investigation, it is established even confirmed by the Landlord representatives that Barr. Tina Banku Agbor the Secretary to the State Government does not have a single plot nor interest in the Estate. It was however found that Barr. Tina Banku Agbor had leased the estate from the Military Administrator in 1995 and ran it as a going concern before the government the Government of His Excellency Mr. Donald Duke revoked the lease and she relocated to Lagos and has been operating between Lagos and Cross River over the years.
We the people of Boki Local Government are calling on OUR CHILDREN to come together and unite our land to benefit our people.