Oil Wells: Imo State Will Get Justice, Says Hope Uzodimma
- Imo and Rivers states are currently at loggerheads over a disputed oil well in a boundary community
- Governor Hope Uzodimma says he is determined to get the oil well back for Imo through the Supreme Court
- Rivers state has been involved in disputes over oil wells with not only Imo but Bayelsa state too in the past
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Owerri - Governor Hope Uzodimma has expressed confidence that Imo will eventually get justice at the Supreme Court over the disputed oil wells between the state and neighbouring Rivers.
He added that the state will also be receiving an additional N8billion monthly from the federal allocation.
Source: Facebook
The governor disclosed this during a thanksgiving church service in commemoration of Nigeria's 61st Independence Day celebration at the Government House Chapel, Owerri, on Sunday, September 26.
Some oil wells located in Imo were ceded to Rivers for over 20 years, prompting a legal battle between both states.
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Governor Uzodimma stated that though the committee on boundary adjustment through boundary demarcation had given back the oil wells to Imo, the Rivers government had taken the matter to the Supreme Court, all in an effort to continue to deny his state what belongs to her.
He noted that some of the disputed oil wells are located in areas like Ejemekwuru in Oguta local government area of Imo state.
He lamented that some selfish Imo indigenes are benefiting from the scam, and currently working against this recovery process.
Governor Uzodimma, however, expressed confidence that Imo state will get justice.
Bayelsa and Rivers at loggerheads over Soku oil wells
Recall that in 2019, the Supreme Court was asked by the Bayelsa state government to stop the federal government over the payment of monthly statutory allocation from Soku oil wells to Rivers state.
The Bayelsa government in a suit filed invoked the original jurisdiction of the apex court which enables a state government to sue the federal government directly at the Supreme Court.
In the suit filed against the federal government, Bayelsa state claims that it stands to lose billions of naira accruable to it if the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee pays the allocation to Rivers.
How Rivers got favourable judgement on Soki oil wells
Before then, the Bayelsa state government was ordered by a Federal High Court in Abuja to forfeit Soku oil field to Rivers.
Justice Inyang Ekwo, ruling in favour of Rivers state, ordered the National Boundary Commission (NBC) to correct the error which is contained in its 11th edition of Administrative Map which designated San Bartholomew River as the boundary between the two states, instead of River Santa Barbara.
The presiding judge ordered the NBC to, with immediate effect, publish the 12th edition of the map and in it reflect River Santa Barbara as the boundary between both states just as it was in 1996 when Bayelsa was created from Rivers.
Source: Legit.ng
