Voices of Despair: Eastern Obolo communities stand against SPFL’s devastation, fight for ancestral rights
• Aerial view of Eastern Obolo communities, showing waterways
Itoro Bassey
In the somber shadows of their plight, the people of Eastern Obolo Local Government Area in Akwa Ibom State recounted, with heavy hearts, the relentless devastation wrought upon their communities by the hands of Sterling Petrochemical and Fertilizer Limited (SPFL), an Indian company that has taken root in their land.
It was Thursday, January 30, 2025, a day marked not by celebration but by sorrow, as chiefs, leaders of thought, and the weary people of Eastern Obolo, including their Paramount Ruler, HRM Uboon (Rt. Hon.) Harry J. Etetor, convened at the Villa Hilton Hotel & Apartments in Uyo, the state capital.
As Chief Joshua Mathew Ayagwung, the village head of Emereoke, read the somber text of the world press conference, a haunting melody rose from the assembly—a song of resistance, echoing their determination to protect their ancestral homes from the encroaching darkness.
Their voices intertwined in a peaceful yet poignant declaration, a lament for their heritage, as they faced the grim reality that their very existence as a people was under threat.
Ayagwung spoke of the land—1,736 hectares taken from Ikonta, Obianga, Okoroinyong, Egwenwe, Emereoke, Iwofe, and Amazaba communities in Eastern Obolo by the Akwa Ibom State Government in 2022 for the operations of SPFL.
This act, Ayagwung lamented, has ushered in a tide of corruption and a flagrant disregard for law and due process, leaving a trail of suffering in its wake, inflicted by Sterling Petrochemical and Fertilizer Limited (SPFL) that has now claimed dominion over their soil.
The Obolo chiefs said since the onset of SPFL’s civil works, the lives of the Eastern Obolo people have been ensnared in a relentless siege, beset by a myriad of socio-economic and environmental crises.
According to them, the Indian company, despite their desperate pleas and repeated attempts at dialogue, has turned a deaf ear to the anguish of the host communities, leaving them to grapple with the haunting specter of neglect and despair.
“Today, our land has become a theatre of oppression, harassment, intimidation, destruction of environment, ecosystem and blatant disregard for our fundamental rights.
“These challenges, if remained unaddressed, is capable of wiping out of existence over seven gazette villages in Eastern Obolo Local Government Area and permanently displacing the inhabitants of those villages”.
“As we speak, members of these communities are trapped and unable to access medical care for the sick and daily necessities, especially now that suspected cases of cholera have already claimed over 20 lives in one of the host communities.
“We are aware that these Indians plan to release harmful and hazardous substances into the air within the host communities so as to suffocate them and forcefully displace them.
“There is no doubt that the planned displacement of the people of Ikonta and Obianga Communities is a recipe for disaster and possible breakdown of law and order with far-reaching political, cultural and socio-economic implications”.
Additionally, the Eastern Obolo people spoke of the “egregious injustices and high-handedness” that had befallen them at the hands of SPFL over the past two and a half years of the company’s operations in the area.
The scars of this suffering, the chiefs noted, were etched deeply in their lives, manifesting in the illegal and forceful closure of creeks—once vibrant federal navigable waterways—and the looming threat of forced displacement and evacuation of the Ikonta and Obianga communities.
The list of grievances was long and sorrowful: a blatant disregard for existing environmental laws, a betrayal of agreements, the cruel act of land grabbing, a failure to comply with local content laws, and a breach of expatriate quotas.
Most painfully, the Eastern Obolo people stated that there was the neglect of corporate social responsibilities by SPFL, leaving the affected communities to bear the weight of their own despair.
Meanwhile, in a desperate bid to reclaim their dignity and restore their way of life, the chiefs and people of Eastern Obolo pleaded for SPFL to reopen the blocked waterways and creeks, to return them to their original state.
They yearned for the freedom to navigate in and out of their ancestral lands, to sustain their traditional occupation of fishing, a lifeline that had been severed by the company’s actions.
Moreover, they demanded a sum of $100 million in compensation for the irreparable damage inflicted upon their environment and ecosystem, a figure that felt both monumental and inadequate in the face of their loss.
While they resolutely rejected any plans, whether conceived or imagined, to relocate or displace the people of Ikonta and Obianga, the chiefs affirmed that their ancestral homes were sacred, and they would not abandon them, no matter the cost.
They added: “These demands must be taken seriously and if SPFL fails within 14 days to address our demand, we shall be left with no other option than to deploy all instrumentality of law to press home our demands including peaceful protests. We reiterate that we will not stand by while our people are oppressed, displaced, and our land destroyed”.
