Supreme Court Rules In Favour Of Rivers State On Disputed 17 Oil Wells

The Supreme Court on Friday in Abuja resolved the ownership dispute of 17 oil wells in favour of Rivers State.

In a landmark judgment prepared by Justice Heleen Ogunwumiju but delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim, the apex court dismissed the counterclaim ownership put forward by the Imo State Government.

The court ruled that the oil wells located in Ndoni and Egbema communities belong to Rivers.

The court however declined to grant Rivers state’s prayer that Imo be made to refund all the monies it had collected based on the political arrangement since 1999.

Rivers, represented by a former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Joseph Daudu (SAN), had asked the court to rule in favour of Rivers on the ground that historical evidence from 1927 till date “clearly indicates that the oil wells belonged to Rivers”.

He referred to the boundary adjustment paper of 1976 where Ndoni and Egbema communities were confirmed to be in Rivers.

He disagreed with the claim of the attorney-general of the federation (AGF) that the suit ought not to have originated at the Supreme Court but at a federal high court because oral evidence ought to be taken from people in the disputed areas.

The Supreme Court has original jurisdiction, he argued, and can use all available historical documents right from the colonial era to determine the real owners of the oil wells.

Olusola Oke, counsel to the Imo, also wanted the suit dismissed on the grounds that it ought to have originated from the federal high court.

There was previously a political arrangement put in place by the federal government for the revenue from the disputed wells to be shared equally between the two states.

However, when Emeka Ihedioha became governor in 2019, a presidential memo directed that all the revenue should go to Imo.

The Rivers state government swiftly filed a suit against the presidential directive.

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