Chief Ifere Paul Visits Buanchor Community, Shares Experience

Chief Ifere Paul is a social critic and chieftain of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Cross River State, Nigeria. He took to facebook photos and shared experiences of his recent visit to the land of nature, Buanchor community, in Boki local government Area, Cross River State. 

It reads 

Buanchor is located at the fringes of the Afi mountain ranges, giving the area a unique place of natural vegetation. The terrain is tough and well undulated. Alluvium deposit from the mountains provide the necessary soil nutrients that makes this linear settlement a thriving agricultural settlement.

The Buanchor people has a tradition that predates the modern bashua civilization. They are govern by a traditional ruler referred to as the Clan Head. The Clan Head of Buanchor is a traditional chief of over six communities and villages.

The current Clan Head is His Royal Highness, Chief Henry Okong. Chief Henry Okong is a jovial man, whose wisdom is easily seen with just few minutes of interactions. He has a council of chiefs that sits on almost every issue that borders the communities he governs.

The population of Buanchor is relatively low. Houses are constructed in a linear pattern, meandering along the parts of the only road into and out of the village. Like most remote places, the Buanchor people lives a communal lifestyle. Everybody is everybody's keeper. Buanchor people, the Wula and Olum people inter marries.

Most people in Buanchor are Christians and worship Jesus Christ and God Almighty. But there are traditional worshipers who hold their faith to the mountain gods.

In Buanchor, the mountain ranges and their vegetation are also considered as gods. The people believes that the mountains acts as a protection against evils. The vegetation on the mountains also helps the people predicts what will happen to the community. For instance, if the vegetation turn brownish, then the community will mourn somebody. All year round greenery is a forecast for bountiful harvest.

The people likes roasted bush meat with plantain and palm wine. Cassava is grown by almost all the households, and serves as a stable food. Besides, cocoa, bush mango (ogbono), plantain, yams, snails, cashew, timber, coffee, pineapple etc are planted for commercial purposes. Buanchor people are very enterprising. Their hospitality to outsiders knows no boundaries.

The good people of Buanchor showered me with lots of love during my visit to their kingdom. I have never been at peace and close with nature all my life until I visited Buanchor.

The Buanchor people are kind hearted. They are blessed with the Afi Falls, Afi Animal Sanctuary that holds some of the rarest species of monkeys, chimps, and other animals on the world's red extinction alert.

Whenever you visit Boki LGA, your visit is not complete without visiting Buanchor.