Long before bulldozers loomed, before placards rose outside the PDP secretariat, and before a governorship contest turned a patch of land along Ndidem Usang Iso Road into a national talking point, the Cross River State Water Board was simply a utility meant to keep water running in Calabar.

Today, it sits at the centre of one of the state’s most emotionally charged land disputes, pitting government against opposition, host communities against both, and a sitting deputy governor against a man who once helped make the current governor.

The Cross River State Planning and Development Control Taskforce has served demolition notices, referenced as CRS/PDCT/043, on structures inside the Water Board Estate, warning that work must stop immediately and that demolition would begin on or after July 6, 2026.

However, things have taken a different turn following a court order secured by Mrs. Cecilia Ogar Eba, wife of the immediate past Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, stopping the government from demolishing her property.

The Federal High Court in Calabar had issued an interim order restraining the Cross River State Government from demolishing a property belonging to Mrs. Ogar, who is also the wife of the current deputy governorship candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The suit, numbered FHC/CA/FHR/78/2026 and signed by Senior Registrar II, Ashiru Garba, lists Mrs. Cecilia Ogar as the applicant. The respondents are the Cross River State Governor, the Attorney-General of the state, the Commissioner for Lands, and the Development and Control Agency.

Hon. Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu, the presiding judge in the case, granted the order following an ex parte application filed by Mrs. Ogar through her counsel, FBI LEGAL. According to the application, the state government had allegedly threatened to demolish Cecilia’s house, but the court specifically restrained the state government and its representatives from further action on the building.

“The Court restrained the Cross River State Government, its agents, servants and privies from demolishing, entering, taking possession of, or otherwise interfering with the property,” the order read. The restriction will remain in place “pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit,” the order maintained.

Ogar is seeking the enforcement of her fundamental rights, including her constitutional right to own and enjoy property. She argued that carrying out the threatened demolition would violate those rights. Her legal team said the action became necessary to protect her interest while the case is in court.

In a statement issued on July 3, 2026, the Managing Partner of FBI LEGAL, Baba Isa, stated that the firm moved quickly to institute proceedings and seek urgent interim relief. “The Court has granted the application, thereby preserving the status quo pending the determination of the substantive suit,” he said. He added that further details would be provided as the case proceeds.

Meanwhile, the Cross River State Government has not issued any official statement in response to the court’s decision.

It’s selective vendetta – Opposition insists

The estate now hosts some of the most grandiose housing projects in Calabar, with senior government officials, past and present, owning buildings there. The government says the exercise is not political but an engineering necessity. Officials tie it to the Second Urban Water Reform Project, a World Bank-backed scheme under which counterpart funding reportedly sat unused for over two years because old pipes could not be reached without excavation.

In a letter dated June 24, 2026, the Managing Director of the Water Board, Chief Godwin Nyiam, formally requested that the taskforce demolish illegal structures on the pipeline corridor. A revocation notice dated June 16, 2026, signed by the Commissioner for Lands, Dr. Francis Ekpenyong, listed Deputy Governor Peter Odey among those affected, alongside former Humanitarian Affairs minister, Beta Edu, Senator Eteng Williams, Linda Ayade (wife of former governor, Ben Ayade), Cecilia Ogar (wife of PDP’s deputy governorship candidate), and other former commissioners, permanent secretaries, and a former police commissioner.

The government warned that failure to comply could trigger further enforcement, including demolition, recovery of liabilities, and other legal measures.

Yet no name has dominated the controversy like that of Alphonsus Ogar Eba, former APC state chairman, now the PDP deputy governorship candidate for 2027. Eba said he received no prior notice before officials pasted the demolition warning on his gate, learning of it only when neighbours called him.

The PDP alleges Eba was allocated the land while serving as APC chairman, and that his house is only being targeted now that he has defected to the opposition. Calabar South PDP Chairman, Felix Offiong, insists the enforcement is selective: if the Water Board must be restored to its original purpose, every affected property must go, not just those belonging to the opposition.

Party supporters took that grievance to the streets. Protesters marched through Calabar carrying placards reading: Stop injustice, we warn and Leave Alphonsus Eba alone, describing the planned demolition as political vendetta. PDP State Secretary, Joe Bisong warned darkly of a pattern: “Today is the turn of Alphonsus Eba. Tomorrow will be the turn of another PDP person,” he told the crowd, adding: “That is why you are here to say enough is enough.”

Demolition in public interest, not political – Govt

The government has pushed back hard against the victimisation narrative. Special Adviser on General Duties, Ekpenyong Akiba, insists the drive is not personal. He explained the Water Board facility was originally built for water production, with large underground pipes running through the area, and that residential structures, including staff quarters, were only later developed on the land. He noted the exercise is not limited to Eba; houses belonging to a commissioner, special adviser, former permanent secretaries and retirees are also marked, adding: “It’s good these issues are coming to the public domain so people can understand if we should continue to support irresponsibility and protect inadequacies.”

The government insists there will be no demolition without adequate notice, and that relocation provisions exist where necessary. On his part, the Commissioner for Information, Erasmus Ekpang, went further, disclosing that the exercise actually affects 39 buildings and that even Deputy Governor Peter Odey’s own property sits on the pipeline corridor and is on the line.

Eba, for his part, has chosen the courtroom over the streets. The Federal High Court sitting in Calabar restrained the state government from proceeding with the planned demolition, pending hearing of a fundamental rights suit, in an interim order secured by his counsel, Baba Isa Esq. Announcing the victory, Eba thanked his legal team and supporters, invoking the Latin maxim: Ubi jus, ibi remedium- where there is a legal right, there is a legal remedy and insisted he would pursue only lawful means in seeking redress.

Beneath the political noise lies an older, quieter grievance that predates this administration entirely: the question of how the land came to government in the first place, and whether it has honoured the terms on which host communities in Calabar Municipality parted with it decades ago. Cross River’s history is dotted with disputes in which communities that ceded land for “overriding public interest” later accused the government of diverting it to private and political ends, grievances that resurfaced repeatedly under the Ayade administration over land in the same axis of the city. Whether that historical unease attaches formally to the Water Board parcel remains a matter locals and elders continue to debate, and one the current dispute has reawakened rather than resolved. (Vanguard)

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