Okuku Edidem Ikotidem, the family of the Deputy Speaker, Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Mr KufreAbasi Edidem has dismissed the media report accusing him of perpetrating xenophobic attack on non-indigene residents in Ntak Inyang, Itu Local Government Area of the State.
It could be recalled that there were reports by some sections of the media that the Deputy Speaker allegedly sponsored the demolition of buildings belonging to non-indigenes in the area to reclaim family lands
A statement signed by Mr Archibong Ikot, Chairman and Gideon Edidem Ikotidem, Secretary of the family, said such a report has malicious intentions and a ploy to tarnish the image of their son who occupies a sensitive position in the state government.
The statement noted that the Deputy Speaker being the 20th son of 21 sons of the late Okuku Edidem Ikotidem could not have in any way made unilateral decisions binding on the entire family, which consists of siblings far older than he is.
Giving an insight into the case, the statement explained, “the case in question has been that of a palm oil plantation known as “Ekpene Ekpe “owned and cultivated by our father, the late Okuku Ikotidem, until his death. Upon his ageing days and subsequent death, and upon the growth of his children, interlopers decided to make a venture out of the plantation by fraudulently selling out portions of the large space of land to unsuspecting buyers.
“Upon realising this fraud and land theft, some of the wives of the late Okuku Edidem Ikotidem, who were still alive, had risen to make efforts to reclaim the lands and stop further partitioning and selling of the land by those fraudsters.”
The statement added that the case was first decided in the Customary Court of West Itam, Itu Division, and culminated in an appeal in Suit No. MIT/1A/2012 at the Magistrate Court, Itu, which was decided in their favour in 2018.
It noted that some of the illegal occupants of the family land had, despite the court verdict, refused to relinquish possession of the respective land spaces occupied by them and even refused to honour calls for negotiation by the family, hence, compelling them to return to the court to file processes to enforce the judgement.
It stressed that whatever actions taken that affected the occupants were those of the court officials in pursuance of the judgement and had nothing to do with KufreAbasi Edidem, the Deputy Speaker.
The family, while insisting that it would stop at nothing in reclaiming its land said it will only open room for “negotiation with the illegal occupants as the spirit of their magnanimity leads.”