Rumoured Death: I’m Alive Says Paramount Ruler of Ibeno

The Paramount Ruler of Ibeno Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, His Royal Majesty, Owong Prof. Effiong Bassey Archianga (JP), has reacted to a recent news story alleging that he was dead, describing such news as completely shocking, ill-intentioned and libellous.

Prof. Archianga speaking through a press release said the offensive allegation of death against him was published by Mr Manfred A. Ekpe on Wednesday, May 10, 2023, at about 6:46 a.m. on Newsni9ja.com, a social media platform with the caption, “The death of HRM Edidem Effiong Archianga of Ibeno is a great loss to Ekid.”

The royal father said the article by the news purveyor was ridden with false and outrageous stories such as “he manipulated his identity and supposedly dumped his original ancestry thus: “Edidem Effiong Archianga, who is the son of Etebi in Esit Eket LGA and whose biological father’s compound and gravesite is at Etebi, but who chose to turn over himself to Ibeno and fight his people…”

The press release, entitled False/Libellous publication by Mr Manfred A. Ekpe against HRM Owong Prof. Effiong Bassey Archianga: Demand for Apology” was signed by his legal adviser, Barr Diamond Akpanika and his Senior Personal Assistant, Chief Okon Udofia Okon, UNA-1.

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Accordingly, the paramount ruler in the statement called on the news purveyor, “Mr Manfred A. Ekpe to retract the false publication and tender unreserved apologies” within seven (7) days or face prosecution.

The release stated, “The Palace of His Royal Majesty, Owong Prof. Effiong Bassey Archianga (JP), the Paramount Ruler of Ibeno Local Government Area, has been made aware of the libellous, false, defamatory and extremely mischievous publication made and widely circulated by one Mr Manfred A. Ekpe on social media about the person of our most revered Paramount Ruler.

“Precisely, on Wednesday, 10th May 2023, Mr Manfred A. Ekpe published at about 6:46 a.m. on Newsni9ja.com, a social media platform that has over one thousand members, that His Royal Majesty, Owong Prof. Effiong Bassey Archianga was dead. In an article ridden with false and outrageous stories and captioned, “The death of HRM Edidem Effiong Archianga of Ibeno is a great loss to Ekid”, Mr Manfred A. Ekpe wrote that the Monarch was an ‘Etebi son whose father’s compound and gravesite is in Etebi’.

“The story went on to narrate how the Royal Father manipulated his identity and supposedly dumped his original ancestry thus: “Edidem Effiong Archianga, who is the son of Etebi in Esit Eket LGA, and whose biological father’s compound and gravesite is at Etebi, but who chose to turn over himself to Ibeno and fight his people, is a great loss to Ekid. His true name is Effiong Bassey Anyanga, but changed “Anyanga” to “Archianga” when he crossed over to Ibeno in the 1980s.”

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“Mr Manfred A. Ekpe went further to say that: “Edidem Archianga chose Iwuoachang village in Ibeno as his village of origin but fraudulently obtained a certificate of recognition as village head of Okposo village in Esit Eket LGA of Akoiyak. This was the extent of fraud that was going on as related to Akoiyak. When Chief Eshiet Okutinyang, an Ibeno man, was Commissioner for Local and Chieftaincy Affairs under Gov. Attah, he simply plucked certificates of recognition for any Ibeno person as village heads of typical Ekid villages in Akoiyak.”

He condemned the attitude of Mr Manfred A. Ekpe, for spending most of his days “reeling out several funny, sensational, fictitious, unsubstantiated and unverified stories which sometimes are calculated to and are capable of creating disaffection in the already volatile environment.”

“The esteemed Palace of His Royal Majesty would have continued to ignore this errant busybody, but allowing him to toy with a matter as serious as an announcement of the death of the most respected Royal Father would amount to levity.

The Paramount ruler said that he is alive and that he is from Okposo 1 in Ibeno Local Government Area and not from Etebi or any village in Eket or Esit Eket Local Government Areas and does not have “any affinity or consanguinity with anyone or any family in Eket or Esit Eket Local Government Areas.”

He debunked that there are no Eket or Esit Eket village or villages anywhere in Ibeno stating, “The people of Eket and Esit Eket know this truth, but they have continuously told and repeated the extremely laughable story about ownership of lands in Ibeno without saying how they came by the ownership or even where they came from to own these lands. One is still at a loss how these stories satisfy the Ekids, if not, perhaps, to hide their lack of true knowledge of their history, or, even the denial of same.”