Farmers under the banner of Concerned Cocoa Farmers in Etung, including Matins Isaac, Pastor Ubi Ofem, and Obi Amba, are demanding urgent intervention from the Cross River State Government …
By Our Correspondent
The cocoa estates in Etung Local Government Area are turning into a battlefield — and at the center of this crisis is Oscar Ofuka, a former aide to ex-Governor Ben Ayade, who is now being accused of running a reign of terror against legitimate cocoa farmers with brute force and reckless impunity.
Farmers under the banner of Concerned Cocoa Farmers in Etung, including Matins Isaac, Pastor Ubi Ofem, and Obi Amba, are demanding urgent intervention from the Cross River State Government, warning that if immediate action isn’t taken, the situation could spiral into widespread chaos.
According to them, Ofuka has allegedly deployed thugs and armed uniformed men to assault, harass, and unlawfully arrest cocoa farmers — most of whom legally acquired their plots through state-backed allocations and have paid all required dues to the government. Yet, instead of support, they now live in fear on lands they worked hard to cultivate.
Just recently, one farmer was viciously attacked with machetes by Ofuka’s alleged enforcers right inside his farm. It took the brave intervention of local community leaders to get the hoodlums arrested. The assailants, now in police custody, have been transferred to Calabar for further investigation — but that incident, grave as it was, is just one of many.
“This man, Ofuka, has caused more deaths and disruptions in this estate than any known plague,” said Pastor Ubi Ofem. “Our people are dying. Our farms are collapsing. And the government is watching silently while one man acts like he owns the land and the law.”
The farmers lament the crippling impact of the repeated violence. Many of them can no longer access their farms, and the looming threat of another attack is putting their investments — and their lives — at serious risk. The ripple effect, they warn, will soon hit the state’s cocoa output and destroy a key revenue-generating industry.
They are calling on Governor Bassey Otu and the relevant security agencies to immediately investigate and prosecute Oscar Ofuka for the growing list of human rights abuses and economic sabotage linked to his name.
“If this government does not act fast, we the farmers may have no other choice than to defend ourselves. We’re being pushed to the wall,” said Obi Amba. “If they won’t protect us, then we will protect ourselves.”