The alleged illegality and fraud perpetrated by the 
Anti-Deforestation Task Force an arm of the Cross River State Forestry Commission by a cartel in the force has become a matter of public
concern in the state.
The rate of alleged allegations of extortion and other unwholesomepractices by the Task Force by members of the Public and concerned citizens of Cross River State is something that can no longer be swept
under the carpet or treated with kid gloves.
Niger Delta Voice gathered that the practice has be going on since2009 and a lot of people who refused to play ball or meet up with some obligation that are not even official have fallen victim to this
cartel severally and I the process lost their legitimate source of ivelihood. It is also true that a lot of illegal timber loggers have been apprehended and prosecuted but the ATF has fallen short of its
functions and responsibilities.
From Niger Delta Voice Investigations some of its members have usedthe place as their milking cow and can go to any length to achieve heir aims without minding the level of illegality involved. People
materials are seized indescribably without following due process they are auctioned without recourse to the huge investment by some legitimate businessmen has it on good authority that a lot of them have
gone bankrupt because these nefarious practices while members of this cartel are getting richer by the day.
For Chief Ededem Okon Ayito a victim of the “cartel” life hasbecome a living nightmare for him as all the timber that were legally harvested from a protected area he acquired at Ekpri Ibami Community
in Akampka LGA were unduly auctioned in bad faith without fair hearing and no opportunity given to him to make his case.
According to Chief Ayito I acquired that place from the VillageHead of Ekpri Ibam Community for planting of Plantain, Cocoa and oil palm and other cash crops but with the trees in the location my
plantain and other things will not do well, I had to fell the trees with proper approval from the forestry people
“In the process of perfecting the documents and waiting for a finalcharting to come from them they confiscated my 7950 pieces of timber I am baffled that they declared only 2,147 in the Order. Also, while the
courts were still on strike, they got an Order to sell 2,147peices of timber while the courts were still on strike”
“I wrote to them (Anti Deforestation Task Force) through my lawyer Barr Orchardson Umoh that the wood belongs to me and all necessary documentation is being processed and that I copied the governor too. But to my greatest surprise within one week they started selling the wood which is contrary to the CRSF law in section 68 (subsection 4) states that the commission may dispose of any items and forest produce, which the owner might have abandoned to escape arrest and it is not found, and remains unclaimed for 60 days.”
Chief Ededem further revealed that they did not even get to Calabar before they started selling the wood neither did they wait for the sixty days to elapse before selling. Not only that they also got an
order while the courts were still on strike.
“They have turned my life into a living hell, the banks are aftere I am selling off most of my properties at auction price just to meet up with my responsibilities, my family is suffering my children are almost out of school; I really can’t believe that such a thing is
happening in Cross River state ”Edem lamented.
The Village Head of Ekpri Ibam,Chief Michael Bassey Ako also told
mycrossriver.com that the land that was given to Chief Edem Ayito was not under reserve but in the protected area so he has the right to fell the trees and harvest timber.
According to Chief Michael Bassey Ako, before he even startedsawing the woods Ededem went to them to get proper approval and they still turned back to confiscate the timber from him. What they are
doing is illegal and it is not right, they are only using the name of government to perpetrate evil “Chief Ako said.
In 2014 a court Order (MSC.NO.FC/CA/MSC./6/2014) was issued forthe sale (auction) of 2,147 Pieces of timber during the period in which the courts were on strike (the first warning strike by Judiciary
Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN). Could it be true that the court where the Order emanated from was
actually seating at a period when all the courts in the land starting from the apex court (Supreme Court) to the lowest were under lock and key by the reason of the strike action by JUSUN?
Could it also be true that the registrar, Clerk of that court and
other judicial officers are not members of JUSUN?
Speaking with the Secretary of JUSUN, Cross River State Branch,
Comrade Ogboni Adjah who confirm to Niger Delta Voice that the courts
were on strike which was called off in August and it was not possible
for the Forestry court to have sat in any location because the
secretariat was at the judiciary Headquarters and they couldn’t have
had access to the place.
In a chat with Niger Delta Voice, the counsel to the Anti
deforestation Task Force, Barr U.A Ibitam said that the courts were
not on strike that it was JUSUN that was on strike.
In his words: “The courts were not on strike and are not and the
only people on strike are JUSUN. Judges and Magistrates have never
been on strike because they are not members of JUSUN. The only thing
is that some judiciary staff that is affected would not be there to
assist them (Judges and Magistrates)
“That is why you still you still see Judges performing swearing in
and other official judicial functions every magistrate and Judges is
at liberty to perform judicial functions. That is the point I just
wanted to clarify. Apart from this I will not go further to comment
because this subject matter is before Justice Ebuta”. He stated.
Also speaking counsel to Chief Ededem Ayito , Barr Umoh Orchardson
told Niger Delta Voice that the finality of the Order was quite
questionable and given in bad faith an Exparte application cannot be
used to sell off someone property without even hearing from the
person.
“The Forestry court is under the Cross River State judiciary, theOrder which authorized the auction of the timber could not have sat because there was a strike which affected all the courts in the
country no Court in Nigeria was seating no matter how important your rmatter was either to the political or economic
The judiciary headquarters was also under lock and key from 11thof July till the 8th of August 2014, because the entire place was locked. The question remains (a)Where did they seat(b) how did they get the registrar to sign .The same court had other cases on its cost ist that were listed from the time the strike started and none of them was sat upon neither did they take a new case “ Umoh stated.
You can throw away all doubt based on the current situationbecause JUSUN is still on strike in Cross River State in particular for more than five months now since 5th of January no court in Cross
River State has sat within this period, if they claim to be different then why are they not seating, because no court in Cross River is seating at present” he submitted.
Another Victim and timber dealer at Akim Timber market, Mr. Bassey
Akpan also told Niger Delta Voice that what is going on at the ATF is
really not fair to them as timber dealers.
:”This cartel has been in existence for a long time, theyhave been doing their dirty deals since 2009.i have lost almosteverything as a man. I sold my house and my only truck my children are
not even going to school, I am now living on good will from friends” he
said.
Adding that i have left everything in the hands of God, since theycollected my money and gave me documents yet they still came back andsized my wood running into 14.2million naira ,how can i ever recover
from this” he retorted.
According to the Victim, Chief Ededem Okon Ayito there was no order for the Anti Deforestation Task Force to confiscate the 7,950 pieces from his farm in Ekpri Ibami Community in the first place rather the ATF cartel “manufactured” an order for a public auction of only 2,147 filled as an EXPARTE MOTION with finality
“They never gave an order for the 7,950 rather they got an orderfor only 2,147 .Where are the remaining 5,803 pieces of timber whichhas not been accounted for till date. Also how did a Magistrate give
an order within 24hours that a motion was filled to sell a propertywithout giving time to the owner to be heard,it is quite ridiculousand highly questionable”
“I am really surprised that a motion filed on 22nd of July wasgranted on the 23rd to sell 2.147 instead of all the pieces (7950)which was confiscated by the ATF” Chief Ededem stated.
Speaking with mycrossriver.com the Chief Magistrate, Emeng Edogisaid he cannot comment on a matter that had already been presided upon(in his capacity as Chief Magistrate) and would not also comment on
the current matter because it was in court.
He however admitted that the Order (MSC.NO.FC/CA/MSC./6/2014) emanated from his court on the
said date.
He revealed that the Cross River State Forestry court is a mobilecourt and was not affected by the JUSUN strike as he is also not a member of JUSUN and he acted based on the facts that were presented
before him, before giving the Order (MSC.NO.FC/CA/MSC./6/2014)which he gave in good faith.
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