Eket Heritage

16/09/2026

The Warrior Princess free at last !!!

Princess Godsown Udoito regained her freedom after spending 270 days in custody.

08/09/2026

Akwa Ibom state governor landed in Calabar, Cross River State today Tuesday 8 September 2026.

26/08/2026

17/08/2026

*Justice Ephraim Akpata Commission of Inquiry on the Eket / Ibeno / ONNA / Eastern Obolo, communal crisis in Akwa Ibom State

*Summary: Justice Ephraim Akpata Commission of Inquiry (1993)*

*1. Why it was set up*
- In 1992/93, war broke out between Eket/ONNA and Ibeno over oil-rich coastal villages
- Gen. Ibrahim Babangida’s military government set up a panel to investigate the conflict
- It’s commonly called the *Justice Ephraim Akpata Commission of Inquiry*

*2. What the commission looked into*
- Land ownership disputes between Eket, Uquo, Ibeno, Mbo, and Onna communities
- Specifically the area of Stubbs Creek — from the mouth of Qua Iboe River eastward to Child Point
- Claims by Ibeno and Eastern Obolo over coastal areas that Ibibio communities said were theirs

*3. Key findings & recommendations*
- The commission *declared that Ibeno started the war because they wanted to claim Ibibio oil-rich coastal lands*
- It recommended that the *Akwa Ibom State Govt should repeal the fraudulent Traditional Rulers Edict of 1990* and *return Ibibio coastal villages to Ibibio people*
- On Stubbs Creek: "The Ibenos of Mkpanak must not be heard claiming the land between the creeks known as Stubbs Creek... The Ekets’ almost exclusive occupation of the swampland... cannot now be disputed by the Ibenos"

*4. What happened after*
- The report was largely ignored for years
- In *2021* the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly finally enforced the Akpata Report by repealing the 1990 Edict
- In *2023* the state gazetted an official map based on the report to reflect true landownership

*5. Why it still comes up today*
The Akpata Report is still cited in current debates about:
- *Obolo State creation — Ibibio leaders oppose ceding any part of Eket, Esit Eket, Onna, Ikot Abasi, Mkpat Enin to a proposed Obolo State
- Land boundaries in Eket, Ibeno, Eastern Obolo, ONNA.

03/08/2026

During the colonial period in Nigeria, the Ibibio Union asked for recognition by the British as a sovereign nation (Noah, 1988)

Origin
The Ibibio people are reputed to be the earliest inhabitants of the south eastern Nigeria. It is estimated that they arrived at their present home around 7000 B.C. In spite of the historical account, it is not clear when the Ibibio arrived at state. According to some scholars, they might have come from the central Benue valley, particularly, the Jukun influence in the old Calabar at some historical time period. Another pointer is the wide-spread use of the manila, a popular currency used by the Jukuns. Coupled with this is the Jukun southern drive to the coast which appears to have been recently compared with the formation of Akwa Ibom settlements in their present location.

Ibibio people circa 1915

Another version described that the Cameroon will offer a more concise explanation of the Ibibio migration story. This was corroborated by oral testimonies by field workers who say that the core Ibibio people were of the Afaha lineage whose original home was Usak Edet in the Cameroon. This was premised on the fact that among the Ibibio people, Usak Edet is popularly known as Edit Afaha (Afaha’s Creek) which reflects the fact that Ibibio people originated from Usak Edet. After the first bulk of the people arrived in what later became Nigeria, they settled first at Ibom then in Arochukwu. The Ibibio must have lived in Ibom for quite some time. As a result of clashes with the Igbo people, culminating in the famous ‘Ibibio War’, which took place about 1300 and 1400 A.D., they left Ibom and moved to the present day Ibibio land.

Southwestern Cameroon was a part of present Cross River State and Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria. During the then Eastern Region of Nigeria it got partitioned into Cameroon in a 1961 plebiscite. This resulted in the Ibibio, Efik, and Annang being divided between Nigeria and Cameroon. REFERENCE
www.101lasttribes.com

28/07/2026

... part 2 The people of Calabar....

Surviving historical document dealing with the origin of the Efik present rather disjointed and sometime conflicting accounts. The most comprehensive of these documents seens to be the report of the commission set up by the government of the Eastern Region of the Nigeria to investigate the Obongship dispute. In the report, the Sole Commissioner, A.K. Hart, noted at least five different account of Efit origin and ,migrations.

According to the written evidence submitted to the Sole Commissioner by Etubom Ekpenyon Efiok, Asama Ekpenyong Efiok, Eyo Honesty VIII, the Efik wandered from the “Sudan” into the region of modern Sekondi in Ghana ( then Gold Coast). From there they migrated into the District of the Niger Delta where they settled near Burutu and acquired the sobriquet, “Eburutu” .Leaving Burutu, the Efik migrants split up, with some setting in Abonnema while others went to Itu-Mbauzo and later to Ibom in Arochuku. From Ibom, the Efik again migrated in different directions with some settling in Itu, Enyong, Mbiabo Edere and Oku Iboku, near ikoroffion. Later, the Oku iboku group broke up and settled at Esuk Odu in Ibibo.

There, a great misunderstanding arose between the Ibibios and the Eburutus as a result of which the Ibibios nicknamed the “Efik” or “Oppressors”. The Efiks the migrated to OIkpa Ene, an island on the Cross River, where they life relics that are still extant.

At Ikpa Ene, the Efik were joined by their kinsmen who had previously settled at Mbiabo Edere while another section of the Efik from Mbiabo Edere went and settled at Ikoroffiong before finally dispersing to Ikoneto Town.
This source maintains that the Efik migrated from Ikoneto to Ndodoghi from whence the Ibokus- comprising Creek Town, Duke Town, Old Town and Hensshaw Town- went to the present Creek Town from where all other city state were founded.

Reference
Monday Effion Noah (OLD CALABAR: The City State And The Europeans 1800-1885. scholar

28/07/2026

Historical Ethnology of the people of Calabar....

A Government proclamation of August 10, 1904 directed that “the chief town in the protectorate hitherto known as ‘Old Calabar’ shall in future be called ‘Calabar’ ”.John Barbot, who visited the Old Calabar River in 1698, remarked that the Dutcg call this river Oude Calborgh, and the English Old Calbary. Effiong U. Aye infers that Calabar might have been a corruption of “CALM BAR,” and obvious reference to the calmness of the bar of the Calabar River.Other speculate that the name has a Portuguese origin since the inhabitants “at the back of Rio del Rey” were offen referred to as Kalbonger, Calabaros or Calapongs by the Portuguese.

Writing about the Efik who are the present inhabitants of Calabar, M.D.W. Jeffreys remarked that: they are not a clan but a mixture. It has been shown that in 1686 there were “Agbisherea” or Ibibio settlement in the present vicinity {of Old Calabar]

Agbisherea was another name for Ibibio which clearly shows that the Ibibio were still prominent traders at the coast through the seventeenth century and probably, into the early part of the eighteenth century Evidence that the Ekoi elements formed part of the coastal dynamics can be deduced from the fact that after the Efik had settled in the present site, they still had to pay tribute to the Qua ( an Ekoi group) on whose land the new immigrants settledActually, the land on which the Efik settled might have belonged th the Ibibio because, as it will be shown later, “Qua” was the name by which Ibibio traders were known to the Bonny middle men.
Tom Shott Island or Tom Salt Island or Parrot Island seen to have been Ibibio settlements.Tom Shott was conquered by Duke Ephraim only in the wake of Duke Town expansion in the eighteenth century. After this period, the Ibibio were shut off from the coastal trade due to Efik ascendancy.

Surviving historical document dealing with the origin of the Efik present rather disjointed and sometime conflicting

01/04/2026

Part 2 B: Ibibio Ethnology and Anthropology ( completion of part 2A)
Obong - describes as a principal ruler or king.
Britain in 1902 prohibit the use of the word king for the Efik civil authority, the term " Obong" replace it.
Egbosherry was the name for ibibio land until 19 century.

Old Calaber 1600 - 1891
The impact of the international economy upon a traditional society by A. J. H. Latham.( January 1971)

01/04/2026

Part 2 A: Ibibio Ethnology.
In ibibio Society, smallest social unit was the 'idip' consisting of a man with is wife and children. several 'idips' together made up a compound known as an " ufok" and a group of "ufoks" made up the extended family or "ekpuk" which has been described as a group of patrilinear relative tracing descendant from a single male ancestor. A village was composed of several '"ekpuks" . Although each ekpuk was self governing under the authority of the "ete ekpuk" or lineage head, they were bounded together in the village group by their common religion, secret Society and Village Council. Religion was supervised by a chief priest or "oku ndem", who was responsible to the tutlerary deity or "ndem". The office usually the same in a particular cancel descen in a particular "ekpuk" .
The village council dealt with scalar matters concerning the village as a whole including external relation and composed of representatives of each "ekpuk" under the chairmanship of the village head ir " Obong Isong" . Decision were taken by the council as a whole, and the "obong isong" could not take decision by himself.
At old Calabar the had three kings
1. The civil government- king ( obong isong)
2. The head of Religion - Ndem priest
3. The head of the law - Eyamba.
The use of the term KING had led been European to the conclusion that this office conferred sovereignty power upon the holder.
But an examination of the possible Efik term for this office show this to be a false assumption.
There are three possible Efik terms for this office:
"Etinyin", edidem, and obong.
in ibibio "etinyin" is used for certain office holder but it's Efik meaning is obscured and Golden Dictionary published in 1874 and still the standard authority on the Efik language does not mention it.
In Golden dictionary
Edidem - describes asa title supeeior to obong, denotation one who held absolute power, but which did not apply to anyone in calaber, as no one there had such authority.

Old Calaber 1600 - 1891
The impact of the international economy upon a traditional society by A. J. H. Latham.( January 1971)

31/01/2026

History can't be distorted...
1846 war broke out between Bronny and the Andoni...
1869 civil war broke out at Bronny between chiefs Annie and Munilla People, led by two successful traders Oko Jumbo and Jaja (page 208, 270)
In September, Jaja had to take refuge at Opobo, a small place near Andoni his allies.
1872 on 3rd January, the Bonny - Opobo war was stopped (page 209)

my preposition, due to 1869 - 1872, some settlers from Bonny, Opobo and Andoni settled at the mouth of the Kwa Ibo River and they were ask to stay there ( now Ibeno)

1881 King Jaja of Opobo attacked the Kwa Ibo villages.
At daylight on 10th April fifty canoes belonging to Jaja, bombarded the villages of Ikoretu, Ebotiyan, Obarekan and Empanel, plundered and burnt then took hundreds of prisoners (page 210)
(The People of the Southern Nigerian, Historical note Volume one by P Amaury Talbot. 1969)