Imo State Government has urged citizens of the state to remain calm as it is still awaiting the certified copy of the judgment delivered by the Supreme Court over the disputed oil wells with Rivers State.
The court on Friday delivered a judgement on the 17 disputed oil wells.
The Attorney general of the state, Barr C.O.C Akaolisa in a statement issued in Owerri noted that the Counsel to the Government, Chief Olusola Oke informed him that the Supreme Court granted a part of the claim of Rivers State while it refused another part.
He said since both parts had not been made known to Government, it is premature to speculate on the outcome of the judgment.
He expressed surprise at the statement by Gov Nyesom Wike claiming victory and embarking on a celebration.
Chief Akaolisa said the action of the governor suggested that he might have had a preknowledge of the judgment hence the celebration.
He urged imo people to remain calm and law-abiding until the Government is apprised of the true state of the judgment.
Recall that Wike on Friday slammed former Imo Governor, Emeka Ihedioha for escalating the dispute.
The governor in a statewide broadcast shortly after the judgement said: “It bears repeating that the quest to defend our ownership rights through the courts over the Akiri and Mbede oil wells was not intended to claim victory over Imo or any other State.
“We also deplore the collusive actions of the NBC, which, unfortunately, has become notorious as one of the most corrupt national agencies, which has functioned more in causing confusion than resolving boundary disputes.”
Governor Wike pointed out that while the dispute lingered, the National Boundary Commission (NBC) did nothing in demarcating the boundaries to establish the proper location and title to the disputed oil wells.
But instead of ensuring that NBC did its work, Governor Wike said the former Imo State Governor, Emeka Ihedioha repudiated the subsisted 50:50 per cent sharing formula and also made provocative claims as exclusive owners of the oil wells.
“In order to actualised these spurious claims, he (Ihedioha) stealthily wrote a letter dated 9th August 2019 to President Muhammad Buhari and requested for the refund of the sum of N15, 000,000.00 (fifteen billion naira) from Rivers State to Imo State as a backlog of accrued proceeds from the 13% derivation revenue of the said oil wells.
“Acting on Governor Ihedioha’s letter, Mr President warranted a letter to be written to the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMFAC) through his late Chief of Staff, Mr Abba Kyari, to alter the status quo against in favour of Imo State without reference to the subsisting dispute and agreement between the two States.”
Governor Wike said the Rivers State government was surprised by that action because, since 1999, Dr Peter Odili and Achike Udenwa, both former governors of the respective States had agreed to a 50:50 per cent sharing of derivative proceeds from those wells.
“Accordingly, we first applied to the Federal High Court, Abuja and among other reliefs, successfully challenged the powers and authority of Mr President to give directives to the RMFAC and or interfere in any manner whatsoever with the distribution of public revenues from the distributable pool account, including the Federation Account.
“In approaching the Supreme Court in this matter, we believed that the dispute between the two States and the contentious issues are such that the Court can judiciously, justly and expeditiously determine with the available facts and supporting evidence, including valid administrative maps, subsisting judgement, and other relevant documents.”
The Rivers State governor expressed delight that the Supreme Court has spoken and hoped that Imo State governor, Mr Hope Uzodima will accept the outcome in good faith while exploring ways to accommodate any possible compromise from the Rivers State government.
“This, we may readily oblige, despite the betrayals and back-stabbing by Emeka Ihedioha, who in spite of the extensive support and goodwill he received from the Government and people of Rivers State to become Governor, led the onslaught and created a wedge between two brotherly States that have been living at peace and in friendship with each other.”
