Tension has heightened in parts of Akwa Ibom State following the reported disappearance of Princess God’sown Udoito, a frontline campaigner for Ekid ownership of the contested Stubbs Creek Forest Reserve.
The Ekid Peoples Union, EPU, raised the alarm late Wednesday after confirming that the activist was picked up by security operatives in Eket, but said the police have since denied knowledge of her whereabouts.
In a statement signed by the union’s National President, Dr Samuel Udonsak, and Secretary General, Sir Bassey Dan-Abia, the group said attempts to locate or reach the advocate had proved abortive.
The statement partly reads, “Princess Udoito was taken from Eket and arrested on Wednesday, 14 January 2026.
As at this moment, neither the Union, nor police authorities in Eket and Esit Eket, have provided clarity on her location.
We are working round the clock to make contact with her.”
The union stressed that the missing activist has spearheaded recent campaigns asserting Ekid ancestral rights to the Stubbs Creek reserve, a claim hotly contested by neighbouring Ibeno communities.
It alleged that the arrest may be connected to her advocacy, calling for her immediate access to legal representation.
EPU also reminded security officials of constitutional provisions mandating that anyone in custody be charged to court within 24 hours or released unconditionally.
The alarm comes barely days after senior EPU officials were invited by the Commissioner of Police, Baba Azare, to the State Intelligence Department over what officers described as correspondence capable of causing public unrest.
Letters issued and signed by ACP Essien Boniface, Head of SID, summoned the leaders to clarify their position on the forest ownership dispute.
As of press time, the state Police Command had yet to make a formal comment on the activist’s arrest or confirm whether she remains in custody.
The Stubbs Creek Forest Reserve has remained at the heart of a decades-long ownership tussle, with the Ekid insisting the resource-rich stretch of land is their ancestral inheritance.