Land, Lineage, and Conflict in Yakurr Jurisprudence,Cross River State

By Okoi Obono-Obla

Background:

There is nothing that stirs and precipitates the testosterone of the Ekoi man — especially of the Yakurr variant — more than trespassing into his land or attempting to take it. Land disputes among the Yakurr has long been one of the most destructive forces within the community. Within paternal families, land has often been wielded as a weapon — nihilistic and divisive — used to fracture the filial bonds that our ancestors carefully coalesced, blending consanguinity and adoptive arrangements to produce a confederacy unique and second-to-none in African jurisprudence and philosophy.

The Problem:

Yet all of these is being undermined by the struggle over land resources. In Ugep, many paternal families are now in a state of war, retracing the origins of each lineage and contesting arrangements our ancestors established centuries ago —arrangements that were meant to unify rather than divide.

The trend nowadays is for every ènamma — lineage that bonds together to produce the artery of several nnamma, to confederate into Kepon, all tracing their descent to a common patriarch who can be traced back twenty generations. In those days, every member of the Kepon was entitled to leave his lineage and go to a brother lineage to demand land for residential or farming purposes, and he would willingly be given. But everything has changed, as civil strife within Yepon intensifies.

Proposed Solutions:

To end these perennial conflicts among the Yakurr people, we must begin to devise new ways of settling disputes over land – whether within the Kepon, or within communities themselves. Mechanisms of arbitration, councils of elders, or codified customary laws could be evolved and triggered to resolve disputes before they escalate. Such measures would preserve the spirit of unity and prevent the carnage and bloodshed that erupts when our testosterone runs riot over land.

Conclusion:
The Yakurr heritage of confederacy and filial unity is a profound legacy of African jurisprudence. Preserving it requires rethinking how land is managed and disputes are resolved, so that the wisdom of our ancestors is not lost to the destructive passions of the present. By evolving new frameworks for justice and reconciliation, the Yakurr man, nay people, can safeguard their heritage and ensure that land remains a source of sustenance and identity, not of division and war.