Supreme Court grants Rivers 17 disputed oil wells in victory over Imo
The Supreme Court has granted to Rivers State 17 oil wells which have been a subject of dispute with Imo State.
The judgement, delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim struck out Imo State’s counter-claim of ownership.
The apex court ruled that the oil wells located in Ndoni and Egbema communities belong to Rivers in its verdict.
The court granted five of River State’s relief and rejected three others.
It held that the boundary between Rivers and Imo states as delineated in Nigeria’s administrative map 10th, 11th and 12th editions as well as other maps bearing similar delineation “are inaccurate, incorrect and do not represent the legitimate and lawful boundaries between the two states.”
The court also agreed with the plaintiff that as far as the Nigerian administrative map 10, 11 and 12 editions and other maps bearing similar delineations of the boundaries between Rivers and Imo, are unlawful and void, they “cannot be relied on to determine the extent of the territorial governmental jurisdiction of Rivers State”.
The Supreme Court declared that the correct instrument, maps and documents to be relied on in determining the boundary between Rivers and Imo states are those used by the plaintiff in delineating the boundary lines between the two states.
It also held that all the oil wells within Akri and Mbede communities are wrongly attributed to Imo State and that they are all oil wells within the territory of Rivers State and formed part of Rivers State.
It said it is only Rivers State that is entitled to receive the full allocation of the distributable revenue from the oil well on the basis of the 1390 derivation as contained under Section 196 (2) of the 1999 constitution.
The court however refused Rivers’ prayer to grant the N500 million cost it prayed for.
The court also refused to order the AGF to calculate and refund to Rivers State all revenues that have been wrongly denied the state and wrongly paid to Imo State on account of the extent of the distributable revenue derived from the Akri and Mbede oil wells.
