Follow Us on Google
From Aniekan Aniekan, Calabar
In the lush, verdant expanse of land in Cross River State, a seemingly endless cycle of tears, blood and strife has taken hold of communities once united by history, culture, tradition and geography.
Nestled in the heart of Biase Local Government Area are two communities that have been embroiled in a conflict that has left deep scars, claimed innocent lives, destroyed properties and shattered the tranquility of the area.
Despite numerous peace initiatives, court judgments and government interventions, the dispute rages on, fuelled by a potent mix of historical grievances, land ownership disputes and a struggle for secession.
The Biakpan-Etono II conflict has its roots in a complex web of historical claims and ancestral ties and has evolved into a deadly struggle for control and recognition.
Six communities make up Biakpan: Onoronwanza-Biakpan, Imienyo -Biakpan, Emudakotong-Biakpan, Emibit-Biakpan, Etono II-Biakpan and Inuk Evai-Biakpa.
The Biakpan community shares boundaries with other communities, including Ikun community at Dungini Stream, Etono Central on the northern side of the Cross River-Akwa Ibom – at a boundary point known as Ovoutamana and Asaga Ohafia – at a spring called Ivetim. Others are Eziafor Ohafia – at a spring point between Ivetim and Obana, Akanu Ohafia – at a boundary point called Edu Epipin, Abia Ohafia – at a place known as Ngwu, Ndioroke Ohafia –at a stream called Edu Epipin, Ufele Aku Ohafia, as well as Achara Ihe Arochukwu – at Ovong.
These communities have lived together for decades prior to the conflict, which first arose in the Biakpan communities and can be traced to end of Nigeria’s three years of civil war in the 1960s.
At the centre of the conflict is an alleged attempt by Etono II to secede and become an independent community. However, other communities that make up Biakpan rejected the move as the land within the area was communally owned.
This alleged attempt has lead to a series of court cases and periodic conflicts that have continued to plague Biakpan, leading to loss of lives and properties.
Onun Obu Enang, a member of the Biakpan Traditional Rulers’ Council, explained: “The Etono II people historically emerged from Biakpan, and for decades we lived peacefully as one family. It is a well-established fact that the Etono people are part of Biakpan and share a common ancestry. Until the end of the Nigerian Civil War in 1970, Biakpan and Etono II coexisted harmoniously.
“The Biakpan Traditional Rulers Council wishes to clearly restate the true and historically recognized boundaries of the Biakpan community. These boundaries are well-documented in official maps and supported by historical and geographical evidence, particularly as reflected in Plan No. EAAC/446/LD.
“A letter written by Chief O.E. Ojah confirms that from the beginning there was never any distinction between Biakpan and Etono II-Biakpan. Biakpan is an umbrella name comprising six traditional villages.
“These boundaries have been recognized for decades, acknowledged in both colonial and post-independence administrative records, and remain valid to this day.”
Onun Enang also disclosed that “the Biakpan villages share in the communal ownership of land with no exclusive territorial rights”.
“We have in our possession over 20 pieces of documentary evidence written by members of the Etono II people, wherein they openly acknowledged being Biakpan people.
“However, immediately after the Nigerian Civil War, the Etono II (Biakpan) people began asserting claims of independence, declaring that they were no longer part of Biakpan and falsely claiming exclusive ownership of the Biakpan communal land.
“Despite several reconciliation attempts, these divisive claims persisted, leading to years of tension.”
He enumerated several reconciliation and mediation attempts to resolve the dispute, which Etono II consistently rejected simply because the mediators upheld the truth.
Onun Obu disclosed that, following unsuccessful attempts to resolve the dispute, the matter shifted to the law courts. According to him, “when the internal mechanism among the Biase people’s extrajudicial resolution of the dispute failed, the rest of Biakpan people, as peace loving people resorted to litigation.
“High Court of Calabar – Suit No. C/6/73 was instituted by Biakpan community against Etono II Biakpan, to restrain them from laying exclusive claim to the ownership of the communal land and prevent their secessionist attempt from the rest of Biakpan.
‘The judgment of the High Court was delivered on Friday, the 7th day of March, 1986, wherein, His Lordship declared that: ‘The land occupied by Etono II village is part of Biakpan communal land under the Headship of the Paramount Ruler of Biakpan.
“A perpetual injunction restraining the defendants by themselves, servants, agents or assigns, from leasing, alienating or doing anything in Etono II village inconsistent with communal ownership by Biakpan in all that piece of land now occupied by Etono II Village, Biakpan.”
This matter subsequently shifted to the Court of Appeal in Suit No. CA/E/98/86 as the Etono II people were dissatisfied with it.
“The Court of Appeal unanimously affirmed the decision of the High Court and dismissed the appeal on Friday, the 21st day of April, 1989”, Onun Enang said.
Yet again, the matter shifted to the Supreme Court in Appeal No. SC.100/1990 as the Etono II people were again dissatisfied with it.
“The Supreme Court also unanimously dismissed the Appeal of the Etono II people and affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeal, which affirmed the judgment of the High Court.
“The judgment of the Supreme Court was delivered on Tuesday, the 11th day of June, 1996. The judgment of the Supreme Court is reported as Ojah vs. Ogboni (1996) 6 NWLR (Pt. 454) page 272 (SC)”, he said.
Onun Enang said, following the end of litigation on the Biakpan dispute, the Biakpan people brought the judgment of the Supreme Court to the attention of the Government of Cross River State.
The Government of Cross River State in its letter of 6th September, 1996, with Reference No. SSG/SA/S/434/VOL.IV/419, acknowledged the receipt of the judgment of the Supreme Court.
The government directed the chairman of Biase local government council to draw the attention of Etono II community to the fact that: “The land now occupied by Etono II Village is part and parcel of Biakpan communal land under the headship of the paramount ruler of Biakpan.”
The Government of Cross River State did not stop at that. It went further to direct the chairman of Biase local government council to advise them to strictly abide by the decision of the apex court of the land and desist from engaging in activities capable of causing breach of the peace in the area.
In February 2006, during the administration of Governor Donald Duke, the people of Etono II fomented problems, which led to bloodshed and caused the government of the state to set up a panel headed by the then Attorney General of Cross River State, Mr. Eyo Ekpo, with a view to resolving the long lingering dispute between Etono II and Biakpan communities.
Arising from the report of that panel, the government of the state stated an official position on the Biakpan – Etono II dispute in a press release dated 2nd February, 2007, and signed by Johnson I. Ebokpo, the then Secretary to the State Government.
The government emphasized that the issues had been judicially defined and properly situated and mandated all concerned, especially the people of Etono II, to observe their civic duty and act within judicial boundaries.
Still unsatisfied with this, during the administration of Senator Liyel Imoke, the state government reviewed its position concerning the Biakpan/Etono II dispute. In a letter dated 12th July, 2012, with Ref. No. SSG/SSO/437/VOL. II/515, signed by Rekpene Bassey, state security adviser and addressed to the village head of Etono II Biakpan the government noted that it can neither repeal the decisions of the courts nor can it reverse the earlier position on this matter, as Etono II is part and parcel of Biakpan, sharing a common communal land and ancestry.
As the struggle for land rights persisted over the years, Onun Enang said several atrocities have taken place. He alleged that “in 1984, Etono II invaded and destroyed the historic Garden of Eden site located within Biakpan territory and behind Etono II—an act that deeply offended the cultural and spiritual sensibilities of the Biakpan people and Brotherhood of the Cross and Star Worldwide.
Other News
“In 1987, members of the Etono II community attacked a peaceful religious procession of the Brotherhood of the Cross and Star in Biakpan. Several worshippers, including a pregnant woman, were brutally murdered.
“In 1987, Etono II people abducted a six-year-old girl from Biakpan, killed her and pounded her dead body in a mortar and offered her remains as sacrifice to their Igwu Shrine.
‘In August 2005, Mr. Bassey Uno Ukweni was shot in the leg by Etono II men, leaving him permanently disabled.
“On 9th February, 2007, Mr. George Eke Ukpai was ambushed and killed while returning to Biakpan from Etono Central.
“On 26th March, 2007, Chief Kanu Etekpi was shot dead and his body was mutilated on his way to work at Ogbaha farmland in Biakpan.
“In 2011, the Etono II people burnt down the Brotherhood of the Cross and Star Estate at the New Jerusalem, Biakpan.
” On 5th October, 2025: Etono II youths and their hired mercenaries destroyed the Brotherhood of the Cross and Star rebuilt church auditorium at the New Jerusalem.
“This was done during the period of the Peace Accord signed on 1st August, 2025, by representatives of both communities and without any provocation from Biakpan Community,” he said.
He added that despite police reports and eyewitnesses, no arrests or prosecutions have ever been made. Instead, the aggressors often manipulate narratives to portray Biakpan as the culprit.
He called on the Cross River State government and relevant oversight bodies to urgently investigate these actions and also appealed to the ross River State governor to enforce the earlier decisions and declarations made by the government of the state to bring this dispute an endurable end.
However, the Etono II community through the Concerned Citizens of Etono II have rebutted these claims by the Biakpan Traditional Rulers Council, saying it’s falsehood and manipulated historical claims.
Prince Enene Eke, who responded on behalf of Etono II, said the people of Etono II totally reject every falsehood contained in the publication by the Biakpan Traditional Rulers Council as presented by Onun Enang.
He cited the deliberate violation of the peace agreement by the Biakpan community, insisting that Etono II is an independent, ancient and fully recognized community within Biase Local Government Area.
“We have our own traditional institutions, culture, language and identity. There is no historical record showing that Etono II was ever a vassal or sub-unit of Biakpan,” he said.
He also disclosed that their community existed long before the colonial boundary demarcations and has continued to thrive as a distinct entity and attempts by Biakpan to lump Etono II community into a fabricated list of “six Biakpan villages” insults to history and an open mockery of the truth.
He also alleged manipulation of government records and called for an independent review of survey documents and boundary records.
On the court judgments, he said the cases were not instituted by or against the Etono II community as a corporate entity.
On government position on the dispute, he disclosed that those communications were administrative peace directives, not ownership declarations. No law, gazette, or executive order of Cross River State has ever placed Etono II under Biakpan jurisdiction, he claimed.
He insisted that Etono II has been the victim and not the aggressor. He denied crimes attributed to their people, saying no police report, no judicial finding and no credible investigative panel has ever confirmed these outrageous allegations of murder, ritual killing or arson.
He called for an independent judicial panel of inquiry to investigate all incidents of violence from 1991 to 2025 and make the truth public.
As the conflict rages, the Cross River State Police Command has been having a running battle with leaders of both communities whenever violence erupts.
In May last year, when violent clashes again erupted, the state’s police commissioner, Olusegun Omosanyin, summoned chiefs of both communities to Calabar, the capital of the state and threatened to launch a large-scale disarmament exercise in the area.
He said: “We cannot continue to witness these wanton killings. No Nigerian has the right to take another life under the provisions of the Constitution. I warned them that their conduct is pushing the government to the edge.
“We will move into both communities and disarm their gunmen. If they refuse to surrender their weapons peacefully, we will initiate a full-scale disarmament operation involving all armed forces in the state.”
The strive has also impacted the tourism potentials of the area as it is a famed religious site for members of the Brotherhood of the Cross and Star across the world.
In its quest for peace, the organisation led by Patriarch Bassey Imowo paid courtesy visit to Governor Bassey Otu. Presenting his address to the governor, Patriarch Imowo said as a result of the conflict, his organisation has been unable to hold its pilgrimage activities in Biakpan, which attracts thousands of pilgrims, tourists, and researchers.
Imowo said: “Regrettably, the recent violent attacks and counterattacks on both communities have posed serious security threats and put on hold all our programmes in Biakpan and environs.
“It is indeed sad and worrisome because there cannot be any form of development that will be achieved amidst such a dangerous situation as the religious tourists scheduled to regularly pay homage to the birthplace of leader Olumba Olumba Obu is adversely hampered.
“Obviously, the state government’s developmental efforts too will slow down, thereby reducing economic benefits to the people within that part of Cross River State.”
The delegation appealed to the governor to prioritise the restoration of peace by permanently resolving the conflict between the two sister communities.
Hon. Alex Ukam, a member representing Cross River State in the National Population Commission and stakeholder in Biase LGA said all leaders are to blame for the festering conflict. He said the root cause of the problem is land and the Supreme Court has given judgment and it’s up to the leaders to come together and address the issue once and for all.
Meanwhile, Gov. Otu has expressed deep concern over the lingering communal clashes, calling it an embarrassment to the state. Speaking on the crisis when he received a delegation from the Brotherhood of the Cross and Star led by Patriarch Bassey Imowo, the governor lamented the repeated bloodshed and warned that the government would no longer tolerate disputes degenerating into violence.
Gov. Otu disclosed that where land remains the root of communal crises, such as in the case of Biakpan and Etono 11, the state would not hesitate to step in and take over the disputed parcels to forestall further bloodletting.
“The issues here are very serious. We have stepped into the Biakpan–Etono communal war. I believe we can settle this issue because we have made it clear to all restive communities that where there is controversy over lands, the government will only have to take over such lands. That will avert continual bloodshed,” he stated
Otu said the persistent violence was particularly disturbing because Biakpan attracts thousands of visitors and pilgrims from across the world annually, which also boosts tourism, a revenue earner for the state. He noted that such conflicts create a negative impression of the state, blaming the escalation of the conflict partly on lapses by some officials.
As the Biakpan-Etono II conflict festers, the call for peace is growing louder. The Cross River State government has warned that it will no longer tolerate bloodshed over land disputes. It’s time for stakeholders to come together and forge a path to lasting peace. The world watches as Biakpan and Etono II grapple with their troubled past, while seeking a better future.
