Bayelsa governor’s comments on Soku oil well unfortunate – Wike

The Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has faulted his Bayelsa State counterpart, Douye Diri, over his comments on the disputed Soku oil well.

Wike, who insisted that the oil well belongs to Rivers, advocated for a review of the revenue sharing formula so that Rivers can get more money for development.

The governor spoke when he received a delegation of the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission at the Government House, Port Harcourt, on Tuesday.

Governor Diri had during a similar by the RMAFC faulted the deductions of the state revenue by the commission in favour of Rivers despite the pending appeal in court.

He said the action was tantamount to ceding Bayelsa territory indirectly to Rivers and urged the commission to revisit its decision until the apex court gave a final verdict on the boundary dispute between both states.

He said: “We want to explore a peaceful method. But what the commission has done can degenerate the peace that we are having between these sister states. I don’t think that my people from Oluasiri in Nembe and all of us from Bayelsa will accept ceding any parts of our territories to anybody.

“So, what your commission has done is indirectly ceding our territories to Rivers State and that is totally unacceptable to us as people and a state.”

READ ALSO: SOKU OIL WELLS: PDP orders ceasefire between Wike, Dickson

However, these did not go down well with Wike, who described his Bayelsa counterpart’s comments as unfortunate.

He said: “It is unfortunate that the Bayelsa State governor told you when you visited him that you should not pay us revenue from Soku Oil Well.

“The matter was at the Supreme Court when the National Boundary Commission admitted that they made an error in their 11th edition publication by situating Soku Oil Well in Bayelsa State.

“They were, therefore, directed to correct the error in their 12th edition publication. When they also failed to effect the correction, we had to go back to the Federal High Court. The court, in its wisdom, directed that all revenue accruing from Soku oil well should be paid to Rivers State.

“That is the position. For Bayelsa State governor to come up to say that you should not pay our money is unfortunate.

“If they have filed a matter at the Supreme Court, it is not an injunction to stop the implementation of the subsisting judgment.”

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