Tension was palpably in the air. There was angst in the land. From the government house to the man on the street, the issue was that the oil wells were bona fide natural property of Cross River State but Akwa Ibom State in their usual way of outsmarting Cross River had gone behind with their petrol-dollars to beat Cross River.
Desperately needed oil wells
Cross River State government really needed these oil wells to bolster its economic fortunes because the much talked about tourism is not bringing desired revenue. Agriculture is not giving much either. Public rallies, media campaigns and public opinions were mobilized so that the world might see the plight of the state. All this was to no avail.
As soon as the judgment was delivered, there was apparent resentment at the Cross River State government house. Virtually all government officials spoke against it, still believing the judgment was faulty.
Appeal for calm
As there was undisguised public displeasure over the judgement, Governor Liyel Imoke went on air. He addressed the people, saying they should be calm and that the state would surely triumph over the judgment. “Goodness will triumph over evil,” he stressed.
The governor’s Special Adviser on Inter-Governmental Relations, Barrister Joe Edet said the state will continue to excel despite the Supreme Court judgement against its favour.
Edet emphasized that “With or without oil wells, Cross River State will be transformed. We shall continue to be a reference state in Nigeria that we have been even without the oil wells.”
He like Imoke, appealed to the people to conduct themselves responsibly in the face of the judgment. Edet admonished the indigenes to look beyond oil as the mainstay of the economy as government is already exploring other sources of revenue for the state.
Obasanjo to blame
But chairman of Bakassi Local Government Council, Dr. Ekpo Ekpo Bassey blamed former President Olusegun Obasanjo for the woes bedevilling his people. Ekpo said the judgment would have very serious international security implication on the country, not Cross River State alone, emphasizing that his people will hold the former president responsible for the ordeal the people have suffered in the last 10 years since the ceding of part of Cross River State to Cameroun. He stressed, “Former President Olusegun Obasanjo is the brain behind the plethora of difficulties the people of the area have been subjected to.”
He said if Obasanjo did not hurriedly adhere to the ICJ verdict and handed over Nigeria’s territory to the Republic of Cameroun without the act of parliament, the issue of oil wells would not have arisen.
He said, “It was completely unconstitutional for him to have agreed to the ceding of Nigeria’s resourceful territory without laid down procedures.”
Speaking to journalists in Calabar, two other past chairmen of the council, Emmanuel Etene and Hon. Ani Esin and a prominent businessman, Maurice Ekong also said the judgment is meant to continually subject the people of Bakassi to perennial political and economic subjugation.
At the press conference, the trio blamed the former president saying he did not even wait for the Green Tree Agreement which was part of the ICJ verdict to be ratified.
An importer who patronises the Calabar port, Inyang Ntui said with the judgment the state can no more compete with those in the Niger Delta.
“It is unfortunate that the judgment has gone the other way against the popular expectation which means our state will continue to drag behind the rest. We had hoped that if the 76 oil wells come our way, there would be a big economic booster, especially with the way Governor Imoke is managing the state,” Ntui observed.
Speaking in the same vein, a lecturer at the International Institute of Journalism in the state, Ntufam Oqua Itu lamented the judgment saying it will negatively impact on the efforts of the current government.
Violence looms
The public mood has been pensive following the much awaited judgment. Following glaring threats by landlords in Calabar and other Cross River indigenes who have been bitter over the ruling, Akwa Ibom State indigenes living in Cross River State have been living in fear of being attacked.
Findings revealed that Cross River citizens have begun to threaten those from Akwa Ibom State, claiming that their state bribed judges. At the Watt Market in Calabar Friday, some market women from Akwa Ibom said their landlords had asked them to look elsewhere as sons of the soil were being expected.
Mr Effiong Umoh Essien in Bogobiri, largely populated by Nigerians of northern extraction, said they were afraid of being attacked, having been repeatedly threatened to return to their home state so that they do not over heat their economy. One Mr Michael James, expressed fear that the ruling might spark violence in Cross River. He said his family and some friends are thinking of relocating to avert unwanted situations.
“We need to think ahead. We do not have to stay put when danger is looming,” he said.
About 20 percent of the residents of Cross River State spread across the three senatorial districts are from Akwa Ibom State. Those employed by Cross River entrepreneurs are also afraid of the security of their jobs.
Nkese Jimmy, is a typist working with a legal firm on Marian Avenue, Calabar. She said her boss has said that there are too many persons from Akwa Ibom State in Cross River dominating their economy.
Chief Press Secretary to Cross River State government, Mr Christian Ita urged indigenes of Akwa Ibom resident in Cross River State not to nurse fears of being attacked, adding that the state will continue to play host to them.
He said, “There is no reason for anyone to flee Cross River State or be afraid of his job because Governor Liyel Imoke has said in his state-wide broadcast after the judgement that the state will continue to maintain its peace loving status.
“We will remain hospitable to every resident or visitor irrespective of the state you come from. We are known as the state with the warmest smiles and knowing the character of the governor. He is not petty and will not go after anyone.”
Chairman of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) in Cross River and Akwa Ibom States, Iniobong Jackson said, “What the court has established is that persuasive approach is better than enforcing legal rights where non exists then. Therefore, political resolution may be adopted. As far as I am concerned, we are one.
“It is also time to address the fundamental wrong done on the people of Bakassi by the international community and the Federal Government of Nigeria. As a matter of fact, this is a national problem, not regional. People should be calm and law abiding. There should not be any form of negative incitement by any group of people. Our economies, families, resources and well being are tied together.”
How the controversy began
The oil wells controversy began in 2008 when Bakassi Peninsula was ceded to Cameroun following the International Court of Justice’s ruling which gave the disputed area to Cameroun.
The oil wells, it was gathered, had originally belonged to Akwa Ibom State but were awarded to neighbouring Cross River state based on the assumption that the state shall access the sea through the administration of Western Bakassi, which the Nigerian government had negotiated with Cameroun.
Governor Godswill Akpabio in a recent media interview said, “The issue of the 76 oil wells started in 2005 with a letter from the National Boundary Commission, where the president said that because he was negotiating to have Western Bakassi in Nigeria, the oil wells could be credited to Cross River State, and we had no objection to that because Cross River State is our sister state.
“The issue is that in 2008, Bakassi together with Western Bakassi was finally handed over to Cameroun. After that unfortunate incident, Nigeria without our prompting did the right thing through the National Boundary Commission and the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Allocation Commission when the oil wells were returned to Akwa Ibom State, where they rightly belonged,” he said.
However, Cross River state which lost its littoral status following the cessation of the disputed area to Cameroun went to the Supreme Court to contest ownership the disputed oil wells, claiming that the map tendered by the Akwa Ibom State before the court was a doctored map of the Nigeria–Cameroun boundary.
After almost four years of legal battle, the Supreme Court, in a landmark ruling Tuesday, July 10 ruled that the state could not have claimed ownership of the 76 offshore oil wells, as they were no longer part of the state’s maritime territory.
Justice Olufunlola Adekeye, in her judgement held that the agreement which initially allowed Cross River State to have the 76 oil wells had been frustrated by the handing over of the Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroun, following the ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2002.
The court held that the 13 percent derivation revenue from the 76 oil wells between Akwa Ibom and Cross River States must continue to accrue to the state on whose maritime territory they were found to be located by the relevant government agencies.
According to Justice Adekeye, Cross River State no longer has any maritime boundary as it was landlocked.
She stated that the plaintiff not being a littoral state and not having a maritime boundary or abutting the sea, the 76 oil wells which lie offshore and within a maritime territory, which were the subject matter of the suit, could not be apportioned to it. Her words, “The plaintiff has no maritime territory since the cessation of Bakassi Peninsula and the Cross River estuary which used to be part of the state prior to August 2008.
“The present position of the plaintiff cannot be blamed on any government agency, particularly the National Boundary Commission and the RMAFC. The two statutory bodies must perform their statutory duties based on facts and realities to compile the indices for the payment of the derivation revenues to entitled states.”
Adekeye ruled that the agreement upon which Cross River based its claim for entitlement to the oil wells had been discharged by frustration, that is, the handover of the Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroun.
