76 oil wells: Why all Akwa Ibom people must rise up

By Emmanuel Nicholas

Agents and interests in Cross River State have embarked upon a sustained campaign of calumny against Akwa Ibom, collaborating with politicians from the South-West and the North, and weaponising public sympathy to manufacture a scenario that could induce President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to commit a constitutional misstep by overlooking Supreme Court rulings.

They have mobilised the mass media to foment hostility toward the government and people of Akwa Ibom and have sponsored protests designed to cultivate public sympathy so that the machinery of the federal government will dance to their tune.

Numerous officials in Abuja have begun to speak with forked tongues, playing spoiler and attempting to arm-twist the Presidency into seeking a political “solution,” even though the matter has been decided by the Supreme Court on three separate occasions.

After Cross River State received trillions of naira in compensation for the Bakassi Peninsula, its government refused to remit any portion to Akwa Ibom State, even though more than thirteen villages in the Uruan Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom were part of the peninsula.

Cross River thereby lost its entire coastline through a combination of greed and negligence. In pursuing undue compensation, officials neglected the very sources of revenue they had forfeited.

When the loss of coastal territory was brought to light, the Akwa Ibom State government, under Obong Victor Attah, sought a brotherly and peaceful resolution. Cross River State, however, turned to the courts, declining conciliatory overtures.

The judiciary ruled in Akwa Ibom’s favour three times, and the law affirmed Akwa Ibom’s ownership of the 76 oil wells.
But suppose the opposite had occurred.

If Akwa Ibom had lost at the Supreme Court and Cross River State had been declared the lawful owner of the wells, would Cross River accept the Akwa Ibom government seeking a political solution through the back door of blackmail and the weaponisation of sympathy?

They would never allow such to happen. My grandfather says a witch who used all her children for sacrifice will have to roll herself into the grave when there is no one left.

Cross River took all the compensation to itself and rejected the brotherly hand of fellowship. They must accept their fate and stop campaigning against Akwa Ibom State.

Under the 1999 Constitution, the Supreme Court is the highest in Nigeria, and its decisions are final and binding on everyone, including the President and all public officers. I believe the President, being a law-abiding leader, will never go against the authority of the judiciary.

It is time for all Akwa Ibom people worldwide to rise and condemn the actions of the Cross River State Government, which seeks to demonise our state and to seize, in whole or in part, what rightfully and lawfully belongs to Akwa Ibom.

When they protest, we must protest. When they file petitions, we must not remain silent but must answer and refute their blackmail. When they use social media to cultivate sympathy, we must employ the same platforms to counter their narratives.

The Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), as a government institution, has no right to revisit matters already decided by the Supreme Court. The Constitution that created it does not grant it the legal standing to intervene in a concluded legal issue.

Let us rise and support our Governor, Pastor Umo Eno, and the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, and end this blackmail against us.

In conclusion, the dispute over the ownership of the 76 oil wells has been settled by the Supreme Court on multiple occasions, reinforcing Akwa Ibom’s legal claim.

The controversy has since been amplified by media campaigns and competing political interests from Cross River State, creating confusion and tension.

President Bola Tinubu will uphold the rule of law and respect final judicial determinations. He will not be cowed by any legal or institutional authority that lacks the legal basis to overturn Supreme Court rulings.