Imported User:
Governor Liyel Imoke of Cross River State has described the Supreme Court judgement on the ownership of 76 oil wells between the state and Akwa Ibom as punitive.
Imoke made the remark in Calabar while receiving the House of Representatives Committee on Treaties and Agreements, led by its chairman, Hon Yacob Bush Alebiosu on a courtesy call.
Imoke said the International Court of Justice judgement of 2002, as well as the Green Tree Agreement, which was a fallout of the ceding of Bakassi to Cameroon, was not only punitive on the people but also to the state.
“The recent experience with the Supreme Court judgement seems to show that Nigeria has taken a punitive measure against the state,” he said.
He noted that the handover of Bakassi to Cameroon in 2008, by the court’s interpretation, meant that Cross River had ceased to be a littoral state and had lost its revenue from the oil wells which have been given to Akwa Ibom. He, however, added that the state has not moved in its geographic location as boats and vessels have been berthing in Calabar from Cameroon.
The governor remarked that by losing Bakassi, Nigeria has failed to address the right of the people, saying that the issue should be brought to the fore, and maintained that the Green Tree Agreement between Nigeria and Cameroon, which is yet to be ratified, should not be punitive to any citizen of the country.
