The militants under the auspices of ORO FREEDOM FIGHTERS demand that a new state be carved out of the present Akwa Ibom State to be called Atlantic State adding that Oro Community produces over 80% of the oil production in the state:
Below is a copy of the letter sent just sent to our Paris newsroom:
''General Muhammadu Buhari,
The President,
Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces,
The Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Your Excellency,
We respectfully commend your amiable effort in fighting corruption in Nigeria and the attempts to strengthen various aspects that were adversely deteriorating in this country, especially in the area of insecurity; we are solidly behind your administration.
With pains and anger in our hearts, we are using this medium to state our plights, sufferings, and total marginalization in Akwa Ibom state. We are the Oro Freedom Fighters group whose mission is to fight for our rights and privileges belonging to us by virtue of our natural endowments, as well as our rights provided in the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights, and the various UN conventions and protocols on Human Rights. One of these rights is the right to “self-determination”.
Oro as a nation has been deprived, insulted, and persecuted in Akwa Ibom state. Oro nation is made up of five local government areas in Akwa Ibom state, and it is the largest and major oil producing area/ethnic group/community, not only in Akwa Ibom, but in Nigeria. Oro contributes 88% oil production in Akwa Ibom state and in Nigeria.
Since the creation of Akwa Ibom state in September 1988 till date, Oro has never produced the governor of the state. Oro sons and daughters have never been appointed into any of the juicy positions in the state government, and any huge establishment despite the fact that we boast an excellent number of qualified persons in all fields of human endeavor, and that we produced the highest percentage of crude oil from which Akwa Ibom state receives the huge allocation that is used to oppress the people of Oro.
Demand for own state:
The rotational agreement that was put in place to produce Akwa Ibom state’s executives and other political offices has always been dishonoured, scuttled, and ignored whenever it is the turn of Oro to lead. It is as a result of all these and many other evils meted to Oro in Akwa Ibom that we are hereby agitating and demanding for our own state. A new state, separated from Akwa Ibom, but part of Nigeria. We have been patient for too long, and our patience has evaporated.
In the entire Oro nation, there are no good roads, no sophisticated and well equipped medical center, no pipe borne-water, no power supply, etc. There are absolutely no facilities in Oro, yet we owned a huge percentage of the resources that drives the economy of the state and the country. We the youths of Oro have now risen to say that the era of darkness and enslavement is no more. Oro demands and needs Atlantic State!
We hereby warned that failure to put in place infrastructural developments in Oro, and failure to grant us our wish of having our own state as soon as possible will lead to very unpleasant state of affairs in Akwa Ibom state. A STITCH IN TIME SAVES NINE.
In the previous government, precisely the time of our amiable president, late Alhaji Musa Yar’adua, the issues concerning Atlantic state were raised and ware at the peg of conclusion. But, due to the unfortunate demise of Alhaji Musa Yar’adua, the plans to establish the Atlantic State of Oro were abandoned on the connivance of the previous governor of Akwa Ibom State Godswill Akpabio.
Today, we wish to review the sovereignty that will demarcate Oro from Ibibio and Annang ethnicity. Oro people are tired of marginalization, cheating, neglect, and enslavement; and more annoyingly, all these are done to us with our resources. The area which produces the highest percentage of oil that places Akwa Ibom in the position where it is the major oil producing state in Nigeria is not recognized.
Five local government areas such as Mbo, Udung Uko, Oron, Okobo and Urueoffong/Oruko should be included in new state
We the Freedom Fighters Group consisting of the five local government areas such as Mbo, Udung Uko, Oron, Okobo and Urueoffong/Oruko has unanimously and aggressively agreed to die for our right if nothing positive is done urgently to remedy damages caused. The youth will be ready to stop every companies operating in our area such as Mobil, Oriental Energy, Addax, Exxon Mobil, Total EF, Eco-Drill and universal to vacate their operation both onshore and offshore, since we have not been recognized and given our due. In addition, we are ready to unleash carnage, and destruction never before seen in Akwa Ibom State. If we cannot enjoy, they will not enjoy.
The recent appointment of NDDC Managing Director should have been allocated to Oro as the major oil producing communities/ethnic group in Akwa Ibom. It should have been an Oro person too because we have never occupied any of the top position in the oil industry, whether private and public. This is a grave injustice indeed. These positions have always been diverted to other places, and the Oro person never considered because we have nobody in government to speak for us. Now we are speaking up. If we are not heard and positive actions taken to ameliorate the situation, the repercussion will cause a lot of destructions and damages of lives and properties.
Your Excellency, it is not in our nature to be destructive. But you cannot push a man and show him where to fall. We have taken these steps for the general good of the Oro people, and we are pleading that you use your office to come to our aid, and redeem our plights. We want developments, and we want our own state! Oro deserves better than the insults and evil manipulations we are receiving from the present governor and his boss, his predecessor Godswill Akpabio.''
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