Rivers State may be inching closer to permanently taking over the highly contentious Soku oil field following the striking out on Tuesday, October 27, 2020, of an appeal filed by Bayelsa State at the apex court.
Bayelsa State had appealed against a Federal High Court order that the state should refund 13 percent derivation fund from federal allocation it had wrongfully been collecting over the years from Soku oil field.
But the Supreme Court struck out the suit, saying by seeking such an order to make judicial pronouncement on a matter that the Court of Appeal had not even ruled on, the Bayelsa State government was liable of abuse of court processes.
According to a statement by Kelvin Ebiri, newly appointed Special Assistant (SA Media) to the Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike, at the resumed hearing of the matter on Tuesday, Nwali Sylvester Ngwuta, who led a panel of seven justices, wondered why the Bayelsa State government decided to file a suit at the apex court.
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According to the justice, steps were being taken to challenge the judgment of the Federal High Court at the Court of Appeal.
Ngwuta observed that the Bayelsa State government was jumping the gun and that its action was tantamount to abuse of court process. He asserted that there was no way the Supreme Court could make pronouncement on a judgment that was given by a Federal High Court when the appellate court has not done so.
He explained that the Supreme Court does not have jurisdiction on a matter relating to a High Court. To this end, he directed the Bayelsa State government to take its grievances to the Court of Appeal.
It was on this basis that the counsel to the Bayelsa State government, Kemsauode Wodu, applied for a formal withdrawal of the suit and it was struck out by the Supreme Court.
It will be recalled that the justice, Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja, while delivering judgment in Suit Number FHC/ABJ/CS/984/19 filed by Attorney-General of Rivers State against the National Boundary Commission, based on documents from relevant government agencies, had declared that the Soku oilfields belong to Rivers State.
Ekwo had noted that the failure and refusal of the National Boundary Commission to rectify the admitted mistake in the 11th edition of the administrative map of Nigeria since 2002 which erroneously showed St Batholomew River instead of River Santa Barbara as the interstate boundary between Rivers and Bayelsa States, was a breach of the commission’s statutory duty and a flagrant disobedience of the order of the Supreme Court contained in its judgment delivered on 10/7/2012 in suit number SC 106 /2009.
The judge explained that the continued reliance on the said defective 11th edition of the administrative map of Nigeria by the other government agencies/statutory bodies, particularly, the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission and the Accountant General of the Federation in the computation of revenue accruable to Rivers State from the Federation Account has resulted in the continued unjust denial of derivation funds accruing from the Soku oil wells situate within Rivers State to the detriment of the State Government.
Ekwo then directed that notice be served of the decision of the court on the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission, and the Accountant General of the Federation.
The judge said the National Boundary Commission cannot unilaterally delineate boundaries between Rivers State and Bayelsa State after the Supreme Court judgment on the matter and also dismissed an objection to the suit raised by the National Boundary Commission because the Court said it lacked merit.
