The President General, the Central Executive Council (CEC), and the entire Oro people, at home and in the diaspora, have followed with grave concern the increasingly provocative, inflammatory and unnecessarily confrontational statements emanating from certain individuals within the Ibibio/Ekid constituency concerning the Oro people, our ancestral identity, our legitimate aspirations, and matters relating to our geographical and economic interests.
At the outset, the Oron Union wishes to express its profound appreciation to the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, His Excellency, Pastor Umo Bassey Eno, Ph.D., and the Deputy Governor, Her Excellency, Distinguished Senator Dr. Akon Eyakenyi, for their demonstrated commitment to peace, development, social cohesion and the equitable advancement of the constituent peoples of Akwa Ibom State. The State Government has repeatedly emphasized peace, unity, development and kindredship as indispensable ingredients of our collective progress.
It is precisely because of our confidence in the peace-loving disposition of the Governor and his Deputy that the Oro Union respectfully calls upon them, as the Chief Security Officers and principal custodians of the peace of our dear State, to call to order those whose utterances threaten to undermine the peaceful coexistence that has historically existed among the constituent ethnic nationalities of Akwa Ibom State.
Of particular concern is the address attributed to the President of Ekid Peoples Union, Dr. Samuel Udonsak, at the swearing-in ceremony of the 12th International Executive Council of Mboho Mkparawa Ibibio in Uyo on Friday, 24 July 2026.
In the reported address, Dr. Udonsak made sweeping assertions concerning Oro-Obolo consciousness, the proposed creation of a state for the Oro-Obolo people, the Atlantic shoreline, the Ibom Deep Seaport and the alleged territorial status of Oro Nation. The reported remarks went considerably beyond a legitimate expression of historical or political opinion and ventured into language capable of provoking ethnic apprehension and antagonism.
We are particularly disturbed by the reported declaration that the Oro Nation is not, and will not be, a littoral state “in our generation,” together with the assertion that particular territories and the Atlantic shoreline belong exclusively to the Ibibio/Ekid people.
These are matters of profound historical, constitutional, geographical and political consequence. They cannot responsibly be settled through grandiloquent declarations at public ceremonies, ethnic mobilisation, social-media rhetoric, or appeals to primordial sentiments. Where legitimate disputes exist, they should be subjected to the competent institutions of the Nigerian state, including the courts and other lawful mechanisms of dispute resolution.
The Oron Union therefore unequivocally rejects any attempt to convert matters requiring sober historical, legal and constitutional examination into a contest of ethnic supremacy.
Let it be unequivocally understood that Oro people are peace loving, law abiding and constitutionally conscious citizens of Nigeria. Our preference for peace must never be misconstrued as weakness, timidity or an abdication of our legitimate rights.
The Oro people have no interest in dispossessing any neighbouring ethnic nationality of its lawful rights, nor do we seek conflict with our Ibibio, Ekid, Annang, Nkari, Itu Mbuzor, Obolo or other brothers and sisters with whom we share a common state and a common destiny.
But peace, properly understood, is not the absence of disagreement. It is the presence of justice, mutual respect, restraint and institutional mechanisms for resolving disagreement.
As Martin Luther King Jr. famously observed, “True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice.”
Publicity Secretary, Oron Union stated that “it is therefore unacceptable for any individual or group to suggest that the pursuit of legitimate aspirations by the Oro people constitutes an existential threat to another nationality. The aspirations of one ethnic nationality do not, by themselves, constitute an assault upon another”.
The Oron Union reiterates that the aspiration for the creation of an Oro-Obolo State, insofar as it is pursued within the constitutional framework of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a legitimate subject of political advocacy and democratic engagement.
No ethnic nationality possesses a proprietary veto over the aspirations of another.
If there are disagreements concerning boundaries, administrative arrangements, historical records, ownership, jurisdiction or other matters incidental to state creation, those issues should be addressed through evidence, constitutional procedure, dialogue and adjudication where necessary, not through ethnic mobilisation or inflammatory rhetorics.
The Oro people will continue to pursue their legitimate interests through peaceful, lawful and democratic means.
The Oron Union is equally concerned by the attempt to frame the Deep Seaport question as an existential ethnic contest.
The seaport is an economic project of enormous significance to Akwa Ibom State and, indeed, the wider Niger Delta and Nigerian economy. Its development should unite rather than divide our people.
The Oron Union will not permit legitimate questions concerning geographical location, territorial jurisdiction, host community interests, economic participation or developmental benefits to be transformed into a crude contest of ethnic ownership.
If any party believes that a particular geographical or legal claim is correct, the proper forum is the court of law and not the court of public opinion, ethnic rallies or inflammatory speeches. As the ancient principle of justice teaches, “Audi alteram partem” let the other side be heard.
We therefore call upon all parties to refrain from prejudging matters that are properly before the courts or capable of being determined by competent institutions.
ON THE UNFORTUNATE ATTACKS AGAINST ORO WOMEN*
The Oron Union is further compelled to express its profound displeasure over the malicious, derogatory and wholly unacceptable statements made by one Emem Gregory, as well as similar comments attributed to other individuals online and offline, which seek to disparage Oro women by making reckless insinuations concerning their morality and sexual conduct.
Such utterances are not merely distasteful; they are demeaning, misogynistic and socially irresponsible.
The character of Oro women cannot be collectively impugned because of the conduct, utterances or alleged conduct of any individual. By the same token, the character of Ibibio, Ekid or any other women must never be collectively impugned because of the actions of an individual.
We therefore reject completely the weaponisation of women and their sexuality in ethnic discourse.
A people who genuinely seek peace must understand that the dignity of women is not a bargaining chip in ethnic politics, and the honour of one nationality cannot be built upon the humiliation of another.
The Oron Union extends a sincere appeal to our Ibibio brothers and sisters, particularly community leaders, traditional rulers, political actors, intellectuals, youth leaders, religious leaders and civil-society organisations, to distance themselves from inflammatory narratives capable of setting neighbour against neighbour.
The Ibibio people are not our enemies.
The Ekid people are not our enemies.
The Annang people are not our enemies, neither are Obolo, Nkari and Itu Mbuzor.
Indeed, no ethnic nationality within Akwa Ibom State is the enemy of another.
Our common enemy is underdevelopment, insecurity, poverty, unemployment, poor infrastructure and the erosion of social cohesion.
As the great philosopher George Santayana cautioned, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” We must therefore be careful that the language of contemporary ethnic competition does not reproduce the divisions and antagonisms that history has repeatedly shown to be destructive.
The Oron Union respectfully calls upon His Excellency, Pastor Umo Bassey Eno, Ph.D., Governor of Akwa Ibom State, and Her Excellency, Distinguished Senator Dr. Akon Eyakenyi, Deputy Governor of Akwa Ibom State, to urgently engage the leadership of the relevant Ibibio/Ekid organisations and impress upon them the imperative of responsible public communication.
We specifically urge the State Government to:
1. Call all ethnic and community leaders to order against making statements capable of provoking hostility between the constituent peoples of Akwa Ibom State.
2. Discourage inflammatory and provocative rhetoric concerning territorial claims, state creation, the seaport and other sensitive matters.
3. Encourage all parties to utilise dialogue, historical scholarship, constitutional mechanisms and the courts where necessary to resolve legitimate disagreements.
4. Ensure that the peace and security of every citizen and ethnic nationality within Akwa Ibom State are protected without fear or favour.
5. Take appropriate lawful measures where statements cross the threshold from legitimate expression into conduct capable of threatening public peace, inciting hostility or breaching applicable laws.
This administration has publicly identified peace, unity and kindredship as important foundations of the State’s development. It is therefore our conviction that the Government will not allow the irresponsible utterances of a few individuals to imperil the hard earned peace upon which the prosperity of the entire State depends.
The Oron Union wishes to make one final point unmistakably clear: we shall not be provoked into an ethnic confrontation.
We shall not respond to inflammatory rhetoric with inflammatory rhetoric.
We shall not answer insult with insult.
We shall not permit the irresponsible conduct of a few individuals to destroy the historic bonds between ordinary Oro and Ibibio families, communities and citizens.
But neither shall we surrender our dignity, our legitimate aspirations, our historical consciousness or our constitutional rights merely to satisfy the sensibilities of those who may disagree with us.
Our response shall remain lawful, intellectual, democratic, constitutional and peaceful.
As Nelson Mandela reminded humanity, “No one is born hating another person.” Hatred is learned; and what is learned can be unlearned.
It is therefore incumbent upon the elders, leaders and intellectuals of our State to ensure that the next generation inherits peace rather than prejudice, dialogue rather than division, and development rather than ethnic antagonism.
The Oron Union consequently calls upon all sons and daughters of Oro Nation to remain calm, vigilant and law-abiding. We urge our people to resist every temptation to respond to provocation with counter provocation.
Oro Nation seeks no war. Oro Nation seeks no quarrel. Oro Nation seeks no one’s inheritance. But Oro Nation shall continue, with dignity and constitutional fidelity, to defend its legitimate interests and pursue its aspirations.
Let the courts determine legal questions
Let historians examine history!
Let constitutional processes
And let the peace of Akwa Ibom State remain the collective responsibility of us all
28 July 2026
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