From Judex Okoro, Calabar
The Cross River State government has officially recognised His Eminence, Edidem Ekpo Okon Abasi V as the validly selected and elected Obong of Calabar and the Patriarch of the Efik Kingdom.
This has finally laid to rest the 15 years of litigation and counter litigation between the incumbent Obong, Ekpo Okon Abasi and Etubom Anthony Ani.
Ani had declared himself as Obong-elect, disagreeing with the processes that threw up Ekpo Okon Abasi and insisted that he was cheated out of the selection by the Council of Etuboms (kingmakers). The development had factionalised the coveted throne and brought divisions among Efik royal houses.
But, in an official statement dated November 7, 2023 and signed by the Chief Press Secretary to governor, Emmanuel Ogbeche, Governor Bassey Otu stated that it had become imperative to protect the throne from judicial, social and political scorn as the stool of the Obong of Calabar is about six centuries old, steeped in the ethos of the Efiks and revered among the few first class kings in Nigeria.
Otu expressed displeasure over the kingship of the Efik nation and the contention for the stool of the Obong of Calabar, stating that “government has granted explicit recognition to His Eminence, Edidem Ekpo Okon Abasi V as the Obong of Calabar and brings to final closure the speculation, acrimony and dissatisfaction that may have risen in the course of the tussle for this revered royal stool of the Efik Kingdom.”
The statement reads in part: “After a judicial review of the High Court and Supreme Court’s ruling as well as the Constitution of the Obongs’ palace and interface with royal fathers that the issue of waiver for qualification of a candidate to contest the Obongs’ stool is untenable.
“The stipulations of the constitution of the Obongs’ palace in respect of the procedure for the enthronement of any Etubom as the Obong of Calabar remain sacrosanct and that, in all subsequent judgements of appellate courts, the letter and spirit of the High Court judgement of September 25,2023 has not been set aside nor its binding effect on all parties diminished.
“Therefore, all parties must ensure the implementation of the judgement cited in the above to the later, pointing out that Edidem Ekpo Okon Abasi V remains the validly selected and elected Obong of Calabar and the Patriarch of the Efik Kingdom.”
Consequently, the statement recommended that, “His Eminence, Edidem Ekpo Okon Abasi V, should, as a matter of urgency and priority, set up a reconciliation team whose primary duty is to bring the contending parties to a single harmonious peaceful and progressive rulership of the Efik Kingdom.”