Oil Wells: Amaechi Urges FG’s Redress …As Kalabaris Protest Ceding Of Communities To Bayelsa

Holy Aminadoki , a second year undergraduate beneficiary of the Governor Chibuike Amaechi’s Special Overseas Schorship Programme (middle), displaying the highest GPA award of the Economics Department of the International College of Manitoba, Canada, he won recently.

Rivers State Governor, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, has called on the Federal Government to correct defects arising from the 11th administrative map of Nigeria by the Boundary Adjustment Commission.

Amaechi, who spoke in Calabar, while declaring open a legislative capacity building programme for the Rivers State House of Assembly hinted of plans by the state government to head for the courts if the defects were not addressed.

He said,”we will not allow the attempt by the Bayelsa State Government to collect our oil wells. I have read what the Bayelsa State governor said, that the 11th edition of the (administrative) map (of Nigeria) gave them the oil wells. When? They didn’t talk about the 1st edition to the 10th edition, they chose to avoid that, and went to the 11th edition, but the question they should answer is: why avoid the previous editions?”, Amaechi queried.

Amaechi explained that the Federal Government had promised in court to correct the mistakes in the 11th edition, saying that the legal documents were filed by their lawyers who admitted the mistakes contained in the 11th edition of the map.

“But the Federal Government came to court and said, ‘oh, we made a mistake in the 11th edition, we will correct it’. They should correct it, the documents were filed by their lawyers, not our lawyers. All we want is for the Federal Government to go back to the 10th edition and correct everything,” he said.

“Bayelsa State was created so many years ago, there has been no law ceding that part of Kalabari kingdom to Bayelsa State. Now, when did it suddenly change? It changed in 2006, but I don’t want to join issues. I want the Kalabari people to represent themselves, and I will stand behind them, and all what we are saying is that they should look from the 1st to the 10th edition (of the administrative map) and not an imaginary 11th edition”, Amaechi added.

“It won’t work; it will certainly not work, no matter how they try to intimidate the agencies of the Federal Government, we will continue to go to court and let our people know that the agencies of the Federal Government are being intimidated, that is what we are saying.”

Governor Amaechi urged Rivers people to stand behind his administration to ensure justice, equity and fair play are achieved over the sudden claims by the Bayelsa State Government.

“All we want is for Rivers people to stand by us, Soku community has been in Rivers State long before Bayelsa State was created. Elem- Sangama is not a ward in Bayelsa State, but they said, they don’t want territory, they want derivation, how can that work? Does oil come from the air? He has already answered the question for us, but we must struggle to get back our oil wells,” Amaechi said.

Speaking further, Amaechi expressed gladness that the retreat for the state lawmakers was holding in Calabar, saying that one of the benefits of the retreat was to acquire knowledge and challenge the lawmakers to evolve useful contributions that would better the lives of Rivers people.

He said, “very soon, we shall present the Appropriation Bill, the kind of bills you have passed into law are useful to the people, they have brought development to Rivers State and contributed towards making the Assembly a veritable instrument for good governance in the state.”

Also speaking, the Cross River State Governor, Senator Liyel Imoke while appreciating the lawmakers for holding the retreat in Calabar, said no compensation was paid to Bakassi indigenes that were currently passing through hard times.

“A whole local government area was collected and handed over to Cameroon and uptill now no compensation has been paid to my people, I think it is right for the Federal Government to look at these problems critically,” he said.

Earlier, the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Rt Hon Otelemaba Dan Amachree had said the purpose of the retreat was to lift the level of participation in the lawmaking process by the legislators and to keep focus with the purpose for which their people gave them mandate in the various constituencies to represent them.

“Lawmaking represents the desire of the people and how they want to live their lives, it is the legal expression of their voices to ensure good and effective governance of the state,” he said.

The Kalabari ethnic nationality in Rivers State has vowed to resist the attempt it had to cede part of their territory to Bayelsa State.

The Amanyanabo of Abonnema, King Disreal Bob-Manuel, who spoke at a press conference shortly after a protest march in Port Harcourt, said that Kula, Suku, Idama, Elem-Sangarma and other communities purportedly ceded to Bayelsa had been part of the Kalabari kingdom right from the creation of old Rivers State in 1967, adding that even after the creation of Bayelsa State in 1996, the communities were still part of Rivers State.

 King Bob-Manuel said that Bayelsa State’s claim to the area was borne out of the greed for oil and gas money, as opposed to genuine interest in the development of the affected communities.

The traditional ruler also faulted the decision of the  National Boundary Commission to cede part of Kalabari kingdom to Bayelsa State based on the 11th edition of the administrative map of Nigeria which adjusted the boundary between the two states from Santa Barbara river to the Sombreiro river, thereby depriving the kalabari people of their communities.

Also speaking, Chief Emmanuel Awoyesuku regretted that the National Boundary Commission refused to adhere to the ruling of the Supreme Court in suit No SC106 2009 which advised that the money accruing from oil and gas in the affected areas be paid into an  escrow account pending the  determination of the matter.

According to him, the Supreme Court had said that it could not rule on the matter until the publication of the 12th administrative map of Nigeria, and regretted that rather than adhere to the directives of the court, the National Boundary Commission decided to cede the area to Bayelsa State.

In his remarks, the former Vice Chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt, Prof Nimi Briggs said that the Kalabari people were not against any individual as far as the matter was concerned, stressing that the National Boundary Commission was the only problem the people were contending with.

Prof Briggs said overwhelming evidence exists which indicates that the boundary between old Brass and Degema Divisions is the Santa Barbara river.

On his part, Barrister Ibim Dokubo said that it was too late for the people to be excised into Bayelsa State, stressing that such attempts would be resisted.

The protest which started from the Isaac Boro Park terminated at Government House, Port Harcourt.

Meanwhile, Rivers State Government has said it would strive to preserve the cordial relationship it shares with the people of Bayelsa State within the context of mutual respect and observance of rights of each state.

However, it regrets the attempt by Bayelsa State Government to instigate the presidency against the people of Rivers State.

While it would not submit to any act of intimidation in protecting the property and resources of the people, the state government said it accords the highest respect to the persons and office of His Excellency, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Meanwhile, the Rivers State Government has blamed Bayelsa State for distortion of facts on the current oil well dispute.

Rivers State condemns the undue favouritism of paying Bayelsa State the revenue from the disputed oil wells originally kept in escrow account.

Also, the state is at lost why the authorities chose to rely on administrative map whose authors had acknowledged as inaccurate and promised to remedy.

John Bibor