By EHIGIMETOR IGBAUGBA

The Cross River Government has said that it is in the process of recovering the 76 oil wells that the state lost to Akwa Ibom.

Gov. Bassey Otu made the disclosure during a media conference in Calabar on Tuesday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that Cross River lost 76 oil wells to Akwa Ibom in 2012 following a Supreme Court judgment.

During the judgement, Justice Olufunlola Adekeye, who read the lead judgment, which was unanimous, dismissed the appeal by Cross River against the Appeal Court ruling, ceding the oil wells to Akwa Ibom state.

Adekeye said that the appeal lacked in substance and merit, insisting that the agreement which initially gave the state rights to the 76 oil wells was upturned by the handing over of Bakassi to Cameroon.

“The facts before the court do not support the claim of the plaintiff to being a littoral state. A non-littoral state cannot claim oil wells offshore as she has no maritime territory.

“The plaintiff has no maritime territory since the cessation of Bakassi Peninsula and the Cross River estuary which used to be part of the state prior to August 2008.

“The present position of the plaintiff cannot be blamed on any government agency particularly the National Boundary Commission and the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC),” Adekeye had stated.

Otu, however, said that he had taken up the fight to recover what rightfully belonged to the state with the knowledge that the disputed oil wells were wrongly ceded to iAkwa Ibom.

“I am happy to let us know that even though we have not received anything money from the wells, Akwa Ibom is also not getting anything for now from it.

“While decision is yet to be made on where the wells rightfully belonged, the proceeds from it is being kept in escrow account by the authority,” he explained. (NAN)