Rivers State Governor Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi
Amaechi has called on officials of the Bayelsa State government
to leave the oil wells of Soku and Elem-Sangama communities in Rivers State for
Rivers people as they have been in existence even before the creation of
Bayelsa State.
Declaring open a legislative capacity building
program for the Rivers State House of Assembly on Monday in Calabar, Cross
River State, Amaechi said, Rivers and Bayelsa states had never had issues
with boundaries as the boundaries are well known to all. And he noted that since the creation of Bayelsa State
there has been no law or agreement ceding any part of Kalabari communities or
Rivers State to Bayelsa State.
"We
will not allow the attempt by the Bayelsa State government to collect our oil
wells, I have read what the Bayelsa State governor said. That the 11th edition
of the (administrative) map (of Nigeria) gave them the oil wells. When? They
didn’t talk about the 1st edition to the 10th edition, they chose to avoid
that, and went to the 11th edition, but the question they should answer is why
avoid the previous editions?", Amaechi asked.
Amaechi explained that the Federal Government has admitted in
court to correct the mistakes in the 11th edition, saying that
the court documents were filed by their lawyers who admitted the mistakes
contained in the map that of the 11th edition.
“But the Federal Government came to court and said, 'oh we
made a mistake in the 11th edition, we will correct it'. They should correct
it, the documents were filed by their lawyers, not our lawyers. All we want is
for the federal government to go back to the 10th edition and correct
everything..." he said”.
“Bayelsa State was created so many years ago, there has been
no law ceding that part of Kalabari kingdom to Bayelsa State. Now when did it
suddenly change, it changed in 2006, but I don’t want to join
issues. I want the Kalabari people to represent themselves and I
will stand behind them, and all what we are saying is that they should look
from the 1st to the 10th edition (of the administrative map) and not an
imaginary 11th edition", Amaechi added.
"It won’t work; it will certainly not work, no matter
how they try to intimidate the agencies of the Federal Government we will
continue to go to court and let our people know that the agencies of the
federal government are being intimidated, that is what we are saying.”
Governor Amaechi urged Rivers people to stand behind his
administration to ensure justice, equity and fair play is achieved over the
sudden claims by the Bayelsa State Government
“All we want is for Rivers people to stand by us; Soku
community has been in Rivers State long before Bayelsa State was
created. Elem- Sangama is not a ward in Bayelsa State, but they said, they
don’t want territory, they want derivation, how can that work? Does oil come
from the air? He has already answered the question for us, but we must struggle
to get back our oil wells.” Amaechi said.
Speaking further Amaechi expressed gladness that the retreat
for the State Lawmakers was holding in Calabar, saying that one of the benefits
of the retreat is to acquire knowledge and challenge them to evolve useful
contributions that would better the lives of Rivers people.
He said, “very soon we shall present the Appropriation Bill,
the kind of bills you have passed into law are useful to the people,
development to Rivers State and contributes towards making the Assembly a
veritable instrument for good governance in the state.”
Also speaking, the Cross River State Governor, Senator Liyel
Imoke while appreciating the lawmakers for holding their retreat in Calabar,
said no compensation was paid to Bakassi indigenes that are passing through
hard times.
“A whole
Local Government Area was collected and ha to Cameroon and until now no
compensation has been paid to my people, I think it is right for the federal
Government to look at these problems critically” he said.
Earlier, the Speaker of the River State House of Assembly Rt
Hon Otelemaba Dan Amachree said the purpose of the retreat is double fold; to
lift the level of participation in law making process by the legislators and to
keep focus with the purpose for which their people gave them mandate in the
various constituencies to represent them.
“Law making represents the desire of the people and how they
want to live their lives, it is the legal expression of their voices
to ensure good and effective governance of the state” he said.
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