Davidson Iriekpen
constitutes a breach of its statutory duty and a flagrant disobedience to the order of the Supreme Court contained in its judgment delivered on July 10, 2012 in suit with number SC.106/2009.”
It made an order of mandamus and mandatory injunction compelling the defendant (NBC) to rectify forthwith in the 12th edition of the Administrative Map of Nigeria, the erroneous interstate boundary between Rivers State and Bayelsa State as contained in the extant 11th Edition of the Administrative Map of Nigeria.
The court also made an order deeming the administrative boundary between Rivers and Bayelsa States to be River Santa Barbara in accordance with the admission of the defendant (NBC) as per its letter of July 3, 2002 and the definitive order of the Supreme Court entered and made on July 7, 2012. It also declared that “The continued reliance on the said defective 11th edition of the Administrative Map of Nigeria by other government agencies, statutory bodies, especially the RMAFC and the Accountant General of the Federation in computation of the revenue accruable to the plaintiff from the Federation Account has resulted in the continued unjust/unfair denial of allocation of derivation funds/money accruing from the Soku Oil Fields/Wells situated within the Rivers State to the detriment of the plaintiff.”
Responding to the verdict, counsel to the Rivers State Government, L.E. Nwosu (SAN), described it as a victory for the rule of law. He said the declarative judgment would check any resort to self-help over the injustice.
On his part, Wike said the state government would continue to fight and defend the interest of the state in order to promote the welfare of her people. He added that the Soku oil wells/fields belonged to the Rivers State before they were illegally appropriated by the federal government for Bayelsa State.
He said, “The judgment is very proper. Everybody knows that it is wrong that the federal government collected our oil wells and ceded same to Bayelsa State. So, we took the right step by going to court.
“We sued the NBC. By interpreting the Supreme Court judgment that for now, since you’re unable to demarcate the boundary, then let the oil wells be in Rivers State, where it used to be, pending when the National Boundary Commission is ready to implement the Supreme Court judgment. We are happy for what happened today. We don’t believe in fighting; we only believe in following due process.”
But the Bayelsa State government flayed the verdict, saying it would not stand assuring that it would be upturned. The state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Andrew Arthur, said the application by the Rivers State government was cunningly hidden from the state government, adding he only got to know about it on the judgment day.
He said although he would restrain from making further comments until he received a copy of the judgment, he added Rivers State had brought similar applications on about four occasions but lost all.
The commissioner urged the people to remain calm since the government would challenge the order of the court at the appeal.