The Cross River State Government has maintained silence following a strongly worded response by the Akwa Ibom State Government over renewed claims to the 76 offshore oil wells long awarded to Akwa Ibom by the Supreme Court.
Governor Bassey Otu of Cross River State had recently claimed that President Bola Tinubu promised to revisit the matter, despite the issue having been legally settled. His comments drew swift and detailed clarification from Akwa Ibom, which reaffirmed that the dispute had been conclusively decided in its favour by the Supreme Court in two separate cases.
In a statement issued by the Akwa Ibom State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Uko Udom (SAN), the government restated that Akwa Ibom never initiated any legal action against Cross River, but rather, was the defendant in both cases filed and lost by Cross River.
The statement recalled that in the first case (Suit No. 124/1999), the Supreme Court ruled on 24 June 2005 that Cross River no longer had a seaward boundary following the 2002 judgment of the International Court of Justice, which ceded the Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon. This effectively nullified Cross River’s claim to the offshore oil wells.
Despite Akwa Ibom’s conciliatory approach, including offering ₦250 million in monthly ex gratia payments, Cross River filed a second suit (SC.27/2010), which was again dismissed by the Supreme Court in 2012. The Court reaffirmed that only littoral states can claim offshore oil assets, and Cross River no longer met that requirement.
Akwa Ibom further criticised Cross River’s approach, saying it had resorted to media campaigns and misleading public statements rather than pursuing constructive dialogue, as advised during a recent meeting chaired by the Vice President.
The Akwa Ibom Government stressed its willingness to engage in a political solution, but only one that recognises the legal rights already affirmed by the courts. It added that any political resolution must also address communities transferred from Akwa Ibom to Cross River as part of the Supreme Court’s broader boundary judgment.
The statement also pointed out that Akwa Ibom accepted its own loss of 86 oil wells to Rivers State in a separate Supreme Court case in 2011 without resorting to public campaigns, calling on Cross River to act similarly in the spirit of peace and mutual respect.
Despite these clarifications, the Cross River State Government has yet to issue any response, leaving observers and stakeholders wondering whether it intends to continue pursuing the matter outside the courtroom or to respect the finality of the judicial decisions.
