Akwa Ibom State has dismissed media reports suggesting that its 76 legally owned oil wells may be returned to Cross River State, insisting that no such ceding has taken place.
The clarification was made on Monday, February 16, by the state’s Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Uko Udom SAN, during a media briefing at the Government House Conference Hall.
He was accompanied by other commissioners, including legal luminary Paul Usoro SAN.
Udom said the reports, which cited a draft report from the Federal Government’s Inter-Agency Committee on oil-producing states submitted to the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), were misleading.
He stressed that the document is a draft, not a decision, approved recommendation, or a reallocation of oil wells.
“The Commission has described the circulating claims as speculative and not reflective of any final position,” Udom said, adding that Akwa Ibom State had reviewed the draft report and found it contained misinformation.
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He recalled that the Supreme Court has consistently upheld Akwa Ibom State’s ownership of the offshore wells, dismissing Cross River’s claims.
According to Udom, the court affirmed that the 2002 International Court of Justice ruling on Nigeria-Cameroon boundaries eliminated Cross River’s seaward boundary, and subsequent litigation by Cross River in 2012 was also decisively ruled against.
“No inter-agency committee, technical panel, or institutional process can alter, amend, reinterpret, or sit in appeal over a judgment of the Supreme Court,” Udom said, warning that any action inconsistent with the apex court’s rulings would be unconstitutional, null, and void.
The clarification aims to prevent public confusion and deliberate distortion of constitutional realities regarding the ownership of oil and gas assets in Akwa Ibom State.