Ikot Abasi boils over 250 million Mobil compensation

*Lawmaker, former council boss fight dirty
*Paramount Ruler’s palace destroyed  

HRM, Edidem Udo Ntuk Obom, Paramount Ruler - Ikot Abasi LGA

Hon. Uduak Odudoh, Member Representing Ikot Abasi State Consituency in AKHA

 Except urgent measure is taken, bloodbath is imminent in Ikot Abasi Local Government Area. Impeccable reports have it that after intense agitation by the people of the area to Exxon Mobil, an oil company operating on Ikot Abasi water fronts for a palliative measure to the devastating effects of oil spillage on the area, the company later agreed to pay Two Hundred and Fifty Million, (#250,000.000) to the local government.

THE INK leant that when the money got ready for payment, the company in collaboration with the State Government requested the Paramount Ruler of the Local Government, His Royal Majesty, Edidem Udo Ntuk Obom to constitute a committee to draw the modality and template for the distribution of the money.  
According to an insider who spoke to THE INK, the State House of Assembly member and the local government council chairman are supposed to be automatic members of the committee, but to the contrary, the committee was set up without their knowledge and meetings were held without consulting them.
THE INK gathered that trouble started when ten resource persons were appointed to represent the ten wards of the area. Speaking to THE INK reporter a former secretary of the local government who pleaded anonymity said that the real trouble is not the credibility of the resource persons, but their political affiliations. According to him, “All the resource persons are APC members so the PDP feel that they fought for the money and should be allowed to take charge of the money.”
Our reporter gathered that almost all the wards protested and requested that the resource persons be changed. For instance, it was learnt that Ikpa Nnung Assang ward protested aggressively and demanded that their clan head, Obong Celestine Udia should change the resource person he personally appointed but the clan head is said to have paid deaf ears to all protest and petitions and maintained that his word should stand.
Ikot Abasi has ten wards and investigations shows it was agreed that each of the wards be given #20 million. It was also gathered that the paramount ruler, whose clan (Ukpum Okon) has only one ward had earlier pleaded that an additional #10 million be added to his clan.
Again, THE INK gathered that Mobil had requested each of the wards to come up with a project for funding instead of spending the money recklessly. Therefore, while some of the wards came up with market, others came with town halls among other projects.
But the crisis assumed a drastic dimension when the paramount ruler convened a meeting in his palace on Tuesday 29th December 2015 with ten controversial resource persons, the Transition Committee Chairman, Mrs. Comfort Usoro and the member representing Ikot Abasi/Eastern Obolo State Constituency in the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Hon. Uduak Ududoh in attendance.
Our source who attended the meeting hinted that it took the intervention of armed, able bodied police men to forestall exchange the blows between the State House of Assembly member, Uduak Odudoh and a former chairman of Ikot Abasi LGA, Obong Amaete Ntuk.
According to our source Uduak annoyance was that Obong Amaete Ntuk and others should not be the resource persons. The lawmaker is said to have reasoned that they all played the opposition party and some of them testified against the PDP at the tribunal and therefore should not enjoy the proceeds of the present PDP-led government and especially should not reap from where they did not sow. An eye-witness told THE INK that Obong Amaete Ntuk escaped the lawmaker’s blows by the whiskers and was smuggled out of the palace by security operatives.
The scenario, THE INK learnt was dramatic and bloody as irate youths of Ikot Abasi almost leveled the paramount ruler’s palace. The youth were said to have throw bottles and stones on the palace roof and doors of the palace were uprooted. The youths are said to have cheered Uduak Ududoh and described his action as the mind of Ikot Abasi people.
When reporter contacted the paramount ruler on phone, His Royal Majesty, Edidem Udo Ntuk Obom said though he was not present at the scene, but he came back to saw the door of his palace destroyed by thugs which he alleged were brought in by the lawmaker. He said he was told that the tires of the vehicle to the consultant were also deflated. The monarch declined further comment, saying he had a meeting with the governor that day and that he was not around as at the time of the incident.
When our reporter also contacted Hon. Uduak Ududoh through a phone call, the lawmaker accused the paramount ruler of undermining his office as the lawmaker representing the LGA in the House of Assembly by convening meetings without his knowledge or even that of the local government chairman. He said himself and the local government chairman had approached the paramount ruler more than two times to find out the level of things, but the paramount ruler refused to carry him along, thereby hiding things from him.
He further explained what happened, “I simply told them that they can go ahead and share the money, but that I will not be part of it. I told them that if anything happen in the process of executing the projects, I and Ikot Abasi Local Government should not be held responsible. I was only fighting for my right and that is the truth.” He said.