NSIKAK EKANEM While the 23 local government councils in Rivers State have been boiling for the past two weeks over supremacy battle between Governor Siminalayi Fubara and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, it has been trouble after trouble in Etim Ekpo Local Government Area in neighbouring Akwa Ibom State. Although Etim Ukpo shares borders with Abia and Rivers States, the political crisis erupting at the council is not creeping in from outside. Unlike Rivers, the Akwa Ibom State governor, Umo Eno, is not one of the factors either.
Notwithstanding, the governor has stepped in as a prime factor in the quelling of the crisis. The problem in Etim Ekpo borders on politics and governance. Although it has not attracted headlines in national dailies yet, if not averted, it could snowball into skirmishes that would put a slur on the existing peace in Akwa Ibom political landscape, following Eno’s apparent strong disposition to harmony, which sees him frowning at bipartisan antagonism.
Between 2017 and 2018, Etim Ekpo, along with Ukanafun and some parts of Oruk Anam local government areas, was embroiled in crisis perpetrated by criminal militant groups. The insurgency caused a groundswell of rural-urban migration as many residents in the affected communities abandoned their homes for dear life. While the crime-induced upheavals were going on, over 200 lives were said to have been lost, just as property estimated to be at the range of a billion naira have also gon.