05 July 2012, Sweetcrude, LAGOS –THE Cross River Forum of Local Government Chairmen has warned that Nigeria might lose 76 oil wells to Cameroon in the aftermaths of the pending Supreme Court judgment on the disputed oil wells between the state and neiggbouring Akwa Ibom State.
It stated that ceding the wells to Akwa Ibom might result in automatically ceding parts of the state to Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Sao Tome and Principe.
Dr. Emil Inyang, chairman of the forum, told new men in Abuja on Wednesday that the pending judgment had created distrust between the two sister states and that the implications of short changing the state through another seizure of its land would be devastating and could have security implications.
He warned the Nigerian government that the current litigation between the two states might lead to tensions that could forever destroy brotherly relations between them.
Inyang said, after Cross River lost Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon, the Federal Government and its agencies were determined to deny it ownership of the said oil wells just to please certain interests.
He stated that though they have belief in the Supreme Court judges, “rumours in the streets, small talks at joints, corners and sit outs point to the fact that the Supreme Court is bent on overruling itself.”
According to him, the case between the two states was similar in every aspect to the one between Akwa Ibom and Rivers States, in which the Supreme Court had ruled in favour of the latter.
