Governor Godswill Akpabio has expressed his willingness to dialogue with the Cross River State Government on the issue of the 76 Akwa Ibom oil wells which ownership by Akwa Ibom State was affirmed the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court of Nigeria had in its recent judgment in a case brought before it by the Cross River Government affirmed that the oil wells are in Akwa Ibom territory.

Speaking Saturday during the monthly prayer meeting held at John’s Chaplaincy, Governor’s Lodge, Uyo, Chief Akpabio said: “Akwa Ibom is extending a further hand of fellowship that despite the Supreme Court judgment Akwa Ibom is still ready to enter into dialogue with Cross River State on the issue of the 76 oil well.”

He deplored some newspapers in the country for misquoting him during the legal tussle on the disputed 76 oil wells earlier controlled by Cross River State, and said he would gladly enter into such dialogue with Cross River State in the interest of brotherhood, peace and ancestral bonds.

The Governor, according to a Government House statement, said he would not be distracted to break the box of democracy, promising to do his best with available resources and leave the rest for his successor to continue from where he will stop.

“I won’t be angry like the Biblical Moses who broke the tablet of God’s commandments on return from Mount Sinai to see the idolatrous worshipping of a golden calf by the Israelites. While in the office with so much work done, I am still being criticised. I see the criticisms as good for my administration,” Akpabio noted.