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Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The legal battle by the Bayesla State government to reclaim ownership of the disputed Soku oil Wells from her neighbouring Rivers state, was on Tuesday lost at the Supreme Court.
A seven-member panel of the apex court specifically struck out the two suits filed by the Bayesla State government on the subject matter for want of jurisdiction.
The Abuja division of the Federal High Court, had in it’s Judgment directed the Bayesla State government to hand over the oil Wells to Rivers State.
In the two suits, Bayelsa State had urged the apex court to stop the Federal Government from further paying monthly statutory allocation from the oil wells to Rivers State.
In the suit marked: SC/SC649/2020, which had the Attorney-General of the Federation and Rivers State as Defendants, Bayelsa State, urged the Supreme Court to among other things, bar the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee, FAAC from deducting earnings due to it from the Soku oil wells
It claimed that Rivers State obtained the said a judgment, without its knowledge, in respect of which Rivers State now lay claim to the Soku oil wells and earnings from it.
Bayelsa State told the apex court that it stands to lose billions of naira that ought to accrue to it from the oil wells, should the FAAC execute the High Court judgement that was in favour of Rivers State.
Likewise, in a second suit marked: SC/650/2020, Bayelsa State also prayed the apex court to restrain the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, RMAFC, from withholding its statutory allocation or deducting it in favour of Akwa Ibom State, with respect to disputed oil wells.
However, the two suits were struck out by a seven-member panel of Justices of the Supreme Court, after counsel for the state, Biriyai Dambo, SAN, and Kemsauode Wodu- applied to withdraw them.
Justice Sylvester Ngwuta, who headed the panel, had after the case was called, stressed that the Supreme Court lacked the powers to exercise jurisdiction over a case relating to the judgement of a High Court, in respect of which the Court of Appeal has not made a pronouncement.
The apex court panel said there was no way it could entertain the suits Bayelsa State brought before it, without considering issues that were earlier determined by the High Court, which the Court of Appeal has the jurisdiction to consider first.
It held that it would amount to abuse of judicial process for Bayelsa State to jump the Court of Appeal in its bid to set-aside the High Court verdict.
Consequently, it persuaded Bayelsa State to withdraw the suit and approach the Court of Appeal to ventilate its grievances against the High Court judgement.
It will be recalled that Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja had in a judgement he delivered on December 16, last year, ordered Bayelsa State to hand-over Soku oil field to Rivers State.
The court said it was satisfied that the oil field rightfully belonged to Rivers State.
It directed the National Boundary Commission, NBC, to rectify an error in its 11th Edition of Administrative Map, wherein San Bartholomew River was in 2002, designated as the boundary between Rivers and Bayelsa States, instead of River Santa Barbara.
Justice Ekwo ordered the commission to promptly produce the 12th edition of the Administrative Map and restore River Santa Barbara as the inter-state boundary between the two states, as it was in 1996 when Bayelsa State was carved from Rivers State.
According to the Court, NBC, was duty bound to comply with a 2012 judgement of the Supreme Court that affirmed River Santa Barbara as the boundary between both states, by correcting its self-admitted error of designating River San Bartholomew as the boundary.
The judgement followed a suit Rivers State lodged before the court for an order of mandamus to compel the NBC to correct the error in its 11th Edition of Administrative Map that gave location of the disputed oil fields to Bayelsa State.
The court noted that NBC had in a letter dated July 3, 2002, while responding to protest by Rivers State government, admitted its mistake and promised to rectify it in the 12th edition of the Administrative Map.
