President strengthens forest protection – but police arrest forest defenders

“The situation is becoming more critical every day,” wrote Martins Egot after his release. He is the director of Panacea for Developmental and Infrastructural Challenges for Africa Initiative (PADIC-AFRICA) and has been a close partner of Rainforest Rescue for the past ten years.

While he is working to defend himself against police harassment and prepare legal action against Ezemac, the company has apparently sent its loggers back into the Ekuri Community Forest.

Ekuri Community Forest and Ezemac

The Indigenous Ekuri people have protected their community forest for many years – a globally respected example of effective forest conservation. Martins Egot is a member of the community and has played an important role in its success. But now Ezemac International (Nig) Ltd is cutting trees there – without permission and therefore illegally, as local residents insist. 

We continue to consistently maintain that Ezemac has no legal authority to operate in the Ekuri Community Forest, particularly in light of the presidential decree and relevant environmental laws,”

writes Odey Oyama, director of the Rainforest Resource and Development Center (RRDC) and also a Rainforest Rescue partner.

What happened?

Since January 9, 2026, the situation has escalated dramatically. Villagers from New Ekuri discovered that Ezemac was operating deep inside their forest with heavy machinery. They stopped the equipment – two bulldozers, one excavator, and four trucks – and took their ignition keys and batteries. To the villagers’ dismay, the police have since returned them to the company – and the machines are back in the forest.

The situation remained peaceful, Martins Egot assures us.

However, the local police fully believed the company’s accusations against Martins Egot “and his gang” – conspiracy, armed robbery, theft, and malicious damage to property – and detained him on January 14, 2026.

The young people are deeply upset, but for now the village elders can still calm them, writes Martins Egot. That may not last, he warns. 

The presence of the loggers in the forest is a direct provocation and carries the risk of violent clashes, deaths, and irreversible environmental damage.”

Odey Oyama works closely with Martins Egot and has sent urgent letters to politicians, police, and authorities in Calabar and Abuja. His impression is that environmental defenders receive support in the capital, but face hostility in Cross River State. Powerful politicians and security forces there are shielding Ezemac.

Enforce the timber export ban

The case confirms Odey Oyama’s warning that while the president’s timber export ban exists on paper, the reality on the ground is quite different. Together with Odey, we launched the petition “Nigeria’s forests cannot wait – enforce the timber export ban now!” Please sign it.

In a social media post, young Ekuri activists write:

If we stay silent, the forest will be gone.

If we stay silent, money will triumph over justice.”