Lawsuit filed against Government by community over land dispute

Regarding land, a few traditional leaders of Nkonib Ikot Ansa in Cross River State’s Calabar Municipality have taken the state government to court.

Nkonib (Ikot Ansa) Qua Clan, Ntoe Lawrence Nyong, and Ntufam Donatus Etim are among the claimants, speaking for themselves and the Clan.

In a lawsuit filed under the case number HC/86/2024, they made their claims and asked the court to declare the agreement made at the conference on April 4, 2024, which gave Ntoe Paul Assim Ita II, the representative of the Nkonib (Ikot Ansa) Quo clan, null and void.

In order to build the Calabar International Convention Centre, a golf course, CICC Hotels, international hospitals, and residential complexes, the state government purchased 369,579 hectares of property in 2012.

But the development led to a court battle.

According to information obtained, the government later gave the Ikot Ansa, Qua Clan, access to roughly 29 hectares of the seized land in 2019.

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On behalf of Nkonib (Ikot Ansa Clan), Ntoe Lawrence Nyong, Ntufam Maurice Omin Iso, and Ntufam Donatus Etim (claimants) filed a lawsuit with suit number HC/314/2021 because they were not happy with the release of the 29 hectares, which they described as a swamp.

The state government must release 23 hectares of prime dry upland, which is independent of the 29 hectares of swam and ravine land that was previously released, bringing the total amount of land acquired by the claimants to 52,864 hectares. Additionally, the state government must provide infrastructure on the 52.846 hectares of land that have been released to the claimants community, according to a consent judgement issued by Justice Ebuta in 2022.

The court also decided that “any private allottee of any portion of the 326.715 hectares of remaining land shall be sub-tenants of the claimants’ community at an annual rate of N100 per square metre, renewable annually beginning on January 1, 2022, with a 100% review of the royalty every ten years.”

The land was given to the Nkonib (Ikot Ansa) Qua Clan by the government in a public notice that was signed by Chief Francis Ekpenyong, the commissioner for lands, and published on page 15 of the state-owned Nigerian Chronicle on Wednesday, April 10, 2024, following the ruling.

In accordance with a court-mandated land settlement agreement, the government also formally presented survey plans to HRH. Ntoe Paul Assim Ita II, the Clan Head of Nkonib Ikot Ansa Qua Clan.

To interpret the Consent Judgement in Suit No. HC/314/2021, the three individuals—Ntoe Lawrence Nyong, Ntufam Maurice Omin Iso, and Ntufam Donatus Etim—returned to the same court because they disagreed with the government’s decision to transfer the land to the community.

On May 28, 2024, the case was brought before Justice B. Ebuta.

The claimants’ attorney advised the court that all of the defendants still have time to submit their defences.

Since the court had already heard the case, Ntoe Paul Assim Ita, the attorney representing the fourth defendant, requested that the case file be forwarded to the Chief Judge of Cross River State for reassignment to a different judge.

In court, the first through third defendants were unrepresented.

The court will decide whether or not to hear the case on June 24, 2024, after it has been postponed.