SOKU OIL WELLS: The endless controversy

SOKU OIL WELLS: The endless controversy

By Mike Odiegwu reporting from Yenagoa

Who between Bayelsa and Rivers states owns Soku oil wells? In resolving the conflict of ownership, stakeholders believe that it is pertinent to first determine the ideal location of Soku in the administrative map.

Are the disputed Soku oil wells located in Oluasiri, a community in Nembe Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, or are they situated in Kalabari, a kingdom in Akuku-Toru Local Government Area in Rivers State? This is the major question begging for answers as two Niger-Delta states, Rivers and neigbouring Bayelsa, fight dirty over an oil rich border area.

Bayelsa State’s claim of ownership to the disputed oil wells stemmed from the 11th edition of the country’s administrative map. The map, which was published by the National Boundary Commission and the Federal Surveyor-General’s Office in 2000, located the boundary between Rivers and Bayelsa at the San Bartholomew River. The delineation situated the oil wells within Oluasiri in Nembe Local Government Area.

Shortly after the publication of the map, Rivers State raised an objection protesting the boundary adjustment. The Rivers State government, under Dr. Peter Odili, reportedly petitioned the then chairman of the National Boundary Commission and former vice-president, Atiku Abubakar. The Rivers State government in its official communication on the matter has always cited a response to the Odili’s letter dated July 3, 2002 by the Director-General, NBC, where the commission acknowledged that the delineation was an error and promised to correct it in the 12th edition of the map.

But without holding briefs for the Bayelsa State government, stakeholders following the matter observe that while the matter was raging, it was agreed by all the parties that the revenue from Soku oil wells should be paid into an Escrow Account pending the resolution of the case. Despite the agreement, in the year 2000, former President Olusegun Obasanjo established a Presidential Committee on Disputed Oil Wells headed by one Major-General A. B. Mamman (Retd.).

The committee in its report recommended that the proceeds from Soku Oil Field be given to Bayelsa State. Former Governor Peter Odili objected to the recommendations of the committee and filed a legal action against the committee at the Federal High Court. Rivers government withdrew the matter following an objection by Bayelsa and filed another action at the Supreme Court. Based on the recommendations of the Mamman Committee, about N7.3bn was released to Bayelsa State from escrow account on March 19, 2007.

Angered by the development, the Rivers government continued to pursue the matter at the Supreme Court vigorously. Delivering judgement on Suit N0 SC/106/2009 Att. Gen of Rivers State vs. Att. Gen of Bayelsa State & Anor, the court washed its hands off the matter, saying it could only make a declarative order on ownership after the final boundary delineation by the NBC.

The apex court said: “It is on account of the foregoing and because of the technical nature of the dispute and the claims of the parties that the court finds that the NBC as an authority vested with authorities and expertise, know-how in dealing with this matter, should have, once and for all, conducted an exhaustive exercise of delineating the disputed boundary, hence the long awaited 12th edition of the Administrative Map when completed soonest would have been of tremendous assistance in settling the lingering dispute.

“In the light of the observations I have clearly expressed above, I do not feel comfortable to grant the declarations sought until the NBC concludes its exercise of delineation of disputed boundary to finality. It will be futile and premature to determine the boundary of the two parties in the present circumstance.”

Amaechi, Dickson tango

But the crisis raged on as former Governor Rotimi Amaechi engaged the then President Goodluck Jonathan, who hails from Bayelsa, and his counterpart in Bayelsa, Governor Seriake Dickson, in verbal warfare over the oil wells. Amaechi then warned Bayelsa to steer clear of the oil wells, saying “we will not allow Bayelsa State government to collect our oil wells.”

The then Rivers State deputy governor, Tele Ikuru, while addressing Kalabari Chiefs Ikuru said all federal agencies the state approached to help redress the problem ignored them. He wondered why Soku, an oil rich community in the state, was suddenly ceded to Bayelsa. He said despite the agreement that proceeds from oil and gas in the area should be paid to an escrow account, about N17bn from the account was transferred to Bayelsa.

“The issue of Soku has been known to be part of Rivers State. Suddenly we woke up to hear Soku does not belong to Rivers again. While we were challenging this, we asked that the whole money from there be paid into an escrow account. Suddenly they paid the money to Bayelsa State,” Ikuru lamented.

But Dickson in a statement signed by his then Chief Press Secretary, Daniel Iworiso-Markson, replied Amaechi. He said Amaechi was a mischievous liar for claiming that President Goodluck Jonathan ceded the oil wells to his home state in his bid to punish Rivers people. Dickson insisted that there was no controversy over the ownership of the Soku oil wells since the issue was resolved by the Supreme Court, the National Boundary Commission (NBC) and several presidential committees.

The statement said: “It is instructive to note that not only are the survey coordinates of the affected areas within the geographical area of Bayelsa State, it is also in Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) delineated electoral constituency as electoral ward 13 in Nembe Local Council Area of Bayelsa State.”

Quoting chapter three of a report of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) dated August 2006, the statement said: “The Bayelsa/Imo/Abia State governments complained that the naming of oil fields was often done arbitrarily without any regard to the culture and particular environment of the people where the wells or fields are located. This has given rise to wrong attribution by relevant agencies.

“Incidentally, Soku village in Rivers State is about 10 kilometres, as the crow flies, from the flow station while the Oluasiri/Soku oil wells/field is completely surrounded by various Oluasiri communities such as Etukekiri, Ijawkiri, Fredkiri, Adokonikiri etc, all in Nembe Local Council Area of Bayelsa State.”

The statement also quoted sections of a report of a committee set up in October 2000 by the then President Olusegun Obasanjo and headed by Maj. Gen. A. B. Mamman (retd), which said: “Soku Oil Field: The team relied on the legal notice captioned “The Eastern Region Local Government Law, 1955 E.R. NO 26 of 1955. Instrument Establishing the Nembe District Council” tendered by Bayelsa State on Pages 40-41 of its submission.

“It should be noted that while the Kalabari of Rivers State call the area Soku, the Nembe people of Bayelsa State call it Oluasiri, which is one of the councils mentioned in paragraph 5 of the above mentioned instrument. In the light of the above, it is recommended that the production from Soku Oil Field be attributed to Bayelsa State.”

The reports, according to the statement, paved the way for Bayelsa to apply for the monies that had been placed in an escrow account.

“From July 2004, the Revenue Commission officially attributed the Oluasiri (Soku) Oil well to Bayelsa State and the amount of N7,292,218,892 was subsequently released from the ESCROW account to Bayelsa State on March 19, 2007, during the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo.

“The Bayelsa State government made the application for a refund of N17,405,702,164.34 during the administration of the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua on the reconciliation of Nembe-South oil field in Bayelsa State and was found by RMAFC to be true.

“Amaechi, failed to disclose that Rivers State made a similar claim on Nda and Okwori oil wells from Bayelsa, Imo, Abia, Akwa Ibom and Delta states, and got a refund of N17.5 billion.”

Wike keeps the battle raging

The incumbent Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, shocked Bayelsa State at the twilight of Dickson’s administration. Unknown to Dickson, Wike engaged his legal team in a fresh battle to reclaim the Soku oil wells. A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja awarded the Soku Oil Wells to Rivers State. Delivering judgement in a suit filed by the Attorney-General of Rivers State and the National Boundary Commission, Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court said based on the facts before the court, the oil wells belonged to Rivers State.

The court then issued an order compelling the NBC to rectify the 11th Edition of the Administrative Map of Nigeria, which contained the erroneous interstate boundary between Rivers State and Bayelsa State in the 12th Edition. The court declared that the failure of NBC to rectify the admitted mistake in the 11th edition of the Administrative Map of Nigeria since 2002 which erroneously showed St Batholomew River instead of River Santa Barbara as the interstate boundary between the two states was a breach of its statutory duty and a flagrant disobedience of the order of the Supreme Court.

But an indication that the Soku oil well conundrum is yet to be rested despite the recent judgement emerged following the decision of Bayelsa State to challenge the order of the federal high court. Immediately the judgment was issued, the Bayelsa state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Andrew Arthur, said Bayelsa was not a party to the application filed by the Rivers State government.

Describing the judgment as unfortunate, Arthur said the application was cunningly hidden from the Bayelsa government, adding that the government only got to know about it on the judgement day. He said though he would restrain from making further comments until he received a copy of the judgment, Rivers State government had brought similar applications on about four occasions but they were all dismissed by the court.

He asked the people of the state to remain calm noting that the government would challenge the order of the court at the appeal. Arthur said the processes that led to the judgement fell short of court rules, which mandated the court to include parties that could affected by its order to an instituted action. He said: “Don’t forget that we were not party to the said action that was brought by the Rivers State. We were not even aware of the pendency of the action up to the stage of this morning.

“I had to call the governor to intimate him of the fact that there was a judgment. I have not seen the hard copy of the judgment apart from what I read from papers. I can’t be making a comment on the basis of what is written in papers.

“But I will be in Abuja and I can assure you that Bayelsa State will have a robust defence by way of an appeal as an interested party. It is quite unfortunate. Rivers State had brought similar applications on about four occasions before the Federal High Court.

“All those applications had been dismissed on one ground or the other. What they did was to cleverly and cunningly not make Bayelsa State a party to the application. I quite understand that the application was for an order of mandamus compelling the National Boundary Commission.  If they are simply compelling the NBC to do an act, that is what it is. Maybe that informed the reason why we were not made party to the application. The rule of court says that where a party is to be affected by the order to be made, the court shall direct that the processes be served on that other party.

“All these were not done and I can assure you that not later than Wednesday we would have taken the necessary steps to ensure that the wrong that had been meted on the people and government of Bayelsa State are dealt with. Bayelsans should remain calm. We understand that this government is almost at its terminal point, but we still owe a duty to protect the interest of Bayelsa and the government of Bayelsa will not shelve that responsibility at this stage.”

Also in an elaborate statement, the Bayelsa government further clarified its position on the matter. The government in the statement signed by Andrew said the lower court’s judgement was contrary to a decision of the Supreme Court on the matter. Andrew said despite the decision of the Supreme Court, the Rivers government instituted an action against the NBC to justify its “false” claims on the Soku oilfields, which he said are located within Nembe Loval Government Area.

He said: “From Monday 16th December, 2019 the media had been awash with reports that the Federal High Court, sitting at Abuja had delivered a judgment awarding the ownership of the said Oluasiri Oilfields/Oil wells to Rivers State purportedly pursuant to the judgment of the Supreme Court in Suit No. CS/106/2009 between Attorney-General, Rivers State v. Attorney-General, Bayelsa State & Anor

“It was also reported that the judgment of the Federal High Court was made to give effect to the decision of the Supreme Court, and purporting to direct the NBC to fix the boundary between Rivers and Bayelsa State at Santa Barbara River.

“It is worthy of note that the Supreme Court in Suit No. CS/106/2009 struck out the action on the ground that it was futile and premature to determine the boundaries of the two states insofar as the NBC had not delineated the boundary between Rivers State and Bayelsa State.

“The Supreme Court never made a specific order directing the NBC to delineate the disputed boundaries. Albeit, it is part of the statutory function of the NBC to deal with, determine and intervene in any boundary dispute that may arise between any two States of the Federation with a view to settling such dispute.”

In the Supreme Court judgement, Andrew quoted Galadima JSC to have said: It is on account of the foregoing and because of the technical nature of the dispute and the claims of the parties this Court finds that the NBC as an authority vested with authorities and expertise know-how in dealing with this matter should have once and for all conducted an exhaustive exercise of delineating the disputed boundary.

“Hence the long-awaited 12th Edition of the Administrative Map when completed soonest would have been of tremendous assistance in settling this lingering dispute.

“In the light of the observations I have clearly expressed above I do not feel comfortable to grant the declarations sought until the NBC concludes its exercise of delineation of disputed boundary to finality. It will be futile and premature to determine the boundary of the two parties States in the present circumstances. However, the appropriate order to be made in the prevailing circumstance is that of striking out the Plaintiff’s suit, and I so order accordingly. Each party to bear its costs.”

Andrew said following the judgement, the NBC in exercise of its statutory functions commenced the efforts to exhaustively and finally resolve the boundary dispute between Rivers and Bayelsa State with the constitution of Joint Technical Committee on the Bayelsa/Rivers Interstate Boundary and the deputy governors of both states leading their respective delegation.

He said: “After a couple of meetings of the aforesaid committee, on the 30th of January, 2013, the Rivers State delegation led by the then deputy governor, Engr. Tele Ikuru, formally announced the withdrawal of the state’s delegation from further deliberation and participation in the joint delimitation and demarcation exercises until certain conditions articulated by the deputy governor of Rivers State, are met, which amongst others, included the payments of all revenue from the disputed oil wells into an Escrow Account under the Accountant-General of the Federation.

“Given the background and the state of affairs necessitated by the voluntary withdrawal of Rivers State from further deliberation and participation in the joint delimitation and demarcation exercise in respect of the disputed boundary.

“It is therefore surprising that Rivers State could resort to instituting the action at the Federal High Court, Abuja against the NBC and without the knowledge and participation of Bayelsa State, and proceeded to obtain a judgement to the effect that the Oluasiri Oilfields/Oil wells, belong to Rivers State on the same unchanged facts and issues as was the case before the Supreme Court in Suit No. SC/106/2009.

“This to say the least, is highly unusual, curious, and clearly untenable and cannot be allowed to stand despite the media frenzy orchestrated and sponsored by the government of Rivers State.

“Bayelsa State is confident of its historical claim of ownership over the lands on which the Oilfields/Oil wells in issue are situate and had always expressed its willingness to fully participate in any joint delimitation and demarcation exercise in respect of the disputed boundary.”

By all indications, the Soku oil well controversy will continue and may be inherited by the next administrations of Rivers and Bayelsa. It is only when the NBC updates the administrative map of the country in its 12th edition that the matter may be resolved. The 12th edition of the mapping will determine whether the rich Soku oil wells and oil fields belong to either Bayelsa or Rivers states