Reported by: Oahimire Omone Precious | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
The Cross River State Planning and Development Control Taskforce 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 dramatic 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 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, 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.
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.
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 structures impeding access to the pipes. The government has maintained that the planned demolition is part of World Bank project conditions and not targeted at any individual.
However, the opposition insists it is selective vendetta. Barr. Alphonsus Eba, the immediate past chairman of the APC in Cross River State and now the PDP deputy governorship candidate, has raised serious concerns over his Calabar home. Eba alleged that the Gov. Bassey Otu administration has earmarked his residence for demolition. Speaking to LEADERSHIP during a telephone call, Eba said the move was politically motivated. “A particular agency owned by the Gov Bassey Otu's administration had earmarked my residence for demolition,” he stated, adding that “it's uncalled for”.
Officials from the taskforce reportedly acted on the matter on Monday, pasting a Demolition Notice on the gate of Eba's residence. The notice directed that all activities on the property should cease immediately. Responding swiftly, Eba accused the government of abandoning political decorum. “There should be no politics with decency. They are crossing the line of decency by whatever threat they are trying to issue,” he said. He vowed not to be deterred: “If you like you destroy the house, if you like you kill me today, if you like you do anything to me, it would not stop me from running elections whether my body is alive or not, but my soul would be on the ballot”.
The PDP State Secretary, Joe Bisong, made the allegation of vendetta while addressing protesters who gathered against the planned action at the party Secretariat in Calabar. The protesters carried various placards with inscriptions like “stop injustice, we warn”, “Leave Alphonsus Eba alone” and “Cross River belongs to all of us, no intimidation is acceptable”. Bisong said the government's record on development was poor, but the party could not tolerate what he described as targeted injustice against opposition members. “We could tolerate that level of underdevelopment, but we cannot tolerate the level of injustice,” Bisong said. “If the government has gotten up from its slumber today and wants to right the wrong, let it be done in a manner that will be seen to be justice for all Cross Riverians”. He argued that the PDP was not against development, recovery of Water Board land, or overriding public interest.
Calabar South PDP Chairman, Hon. Felix Offiong, said the government was applying the law selectively. He listed the houses of serving senior officials in the APC administration, former and serving lawmakers and exco members within the same area, saying all must go if the government was sincere. “If the state government says that the Water Board was meant for its original purpose, they have to demolish every property. Selective application of justice is injustice. We stand against injustice”, Offiong said.
The dispute is not just about a single property. It is about who runs Cross River: the government elected to protect public assets, or the “big men” who have long treated them as private property. The Water Board land row is now the clearest test of Governor Otu's authority since taking office. During the heyday of the Governor Ben Ayade administration, safe public water supply became a major challenge. The Cross River State Water Board Limited, despite being a beneficiary of multi-million dollar World Bank support years ago, failed to live up to its mandate of providing clean and accessible water. With the agency inactive and the land prime, the eyes of the elite turned to the property. For reasons that remain unclear, the government of the day partitioned the land and sold or allocated it to aides, associates and other elites who wanted to build palatial homes in the area. The Otu administration says restoring water requires accessing those pipes, and that can only happen by demolishing properties built on the pipeline corridors.
Meanwhile, the Cross River State Government has not issued any official statement in response to the court's decision. When contacted for reaction to Eba's allegations, the Chief Press Secretary to Gov. Otu, Mr Linus Obogu, said: "This is the first time I have heard this. Please get across to the agency to find out". As the case proceeds to the Supreme Court, as Eba has vowed, the battle over the Water Board land has become a defining moment for Cross River's politics of land, patronage and control. For now, the court has spoken, and the bulldozers remain silent.
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