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Indigenes of Ibeno Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State have petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari over the proposed remapping of the state which they claim is an attempt to cede some of their ancestral lands to other local governments.
Recall that the state House of Assembly in a recent resolution mandated the Surveyor-General of the state to produce a generally acceptable, approved and gazetted map for the state.
But youths drawn from the 26 gazetted communities in Ibeno local government area in a peaceful protest described the planned remapping of the state as illegal and politically motivated.
The youths maintained that they would resist the move with the last drop of their blood even as they claimed that 16 of their communities would be ceded to Onna and Eket LGAs.
The youths staged the protest on Monday, displaying placards with varying inscriptions reading, “proposed remapping is illegal and politically motivated” “Ibeno say no to propose remapping” “We don’t need remapping” etc
Addressing the protesters who converged at the Ibeno local government Secretariat, the Youth President of Ibeno, Mr Kinsley Asuquo said the endorsement of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) should not be used as a yardstick to marginalise the council.
He said it was not a crime to come from an oil-producing community adding that soon after the PIA was passed people began to claim what does not belong to them
He added “What you are seeing today is a demonstration of our dissatisfaction. At this point, you can consider that we have been pushed to the wall and it has come to a point where we cannot take it any longer.
“It’s not a crime to come from an oil-producing community; we did not put ourselves in this place. God Almighty puts us here in Ibeno and we have the divine right to enjoy anything that comes from the oil-producing community. This should not be the reason why we should become the victim of everything form of sharing…
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