Orok Duke Revives Cross River's Claim to 76 Oil Wells, Cites ICJ Ruling Misinterpretation
By Missang AKPET
Former Assembly leader Rt. Hon. Orok Otu Duke has renewed Cross River’s push on the disputed 76 oil wells, arguing that fresh surveys confirm they lie in Cross River waters, not Akwa Ibom.
Addressing journalists, Duke traced the dispute to the ICJ ruling in Cameroon vs Nigeria, which ceded only Atabong, Archibong town and Abana, all of them border areas adjacent to Cross River’s coast to Cameroon.
Akwa Ibom state, he noted, wasn’t party to that judgment neither does it share a maritime border with Cameroon.
Duke who is the current Cross River state rep at Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) argued that during Godswill Akpabio’s tenure as Akwa Ibom governor, officials redrew the maritime boundary “on paper” and reassigned the leftover wells.
“Our ships patrol the Nigeria–Cameroon line—not Akwa Ibom’s, without issues. During the judgement, it was part of Cross River state that was ceded and not Cameroon, how come the left over oil wells from the ceding now belonged to Akwa Ibom? It is either you cede all to Cameroon or you give the remaining balance to Cross River” he argued.
He cited the Supreme Court’s domestic decision, which held that earlier maps were provisional and ordered inter-governmental agencies—related to the dispute to produce a final, science-based drawing.
"The judgment of the Supreme Court is very clear, it said 'Cross River is not a literal state from the provisional drawing that was before the court presented by the surveyor general but we are hereby directing that all intergovernmental agencies should go back and do the final drawing and come up with a final drawing' which has delayed since then".
"Now the same inter-governmental agencies that the Supreme Court directed have gone to do the scientific thing, drawn and taken the coordinates from Tom shot. First they went to surveyor general of Akwa ibom state and they determined the boundary between Akwa Ibom and Cameroon which both parties agreed.
"They took coordinates within the already accepted boundaries and they found out most of the oil wells were on Cross River side"
According to Duke, the governor submitted the agreed chart to President Bola Tinubu, requesting that the coordinates be gazetted and the wells re-attributed.
Duke framed the matter as a straightforward application of the Supreme Court order and existing bilateral maps. “Populate the wells onto the final drawing,” he said, “and the answer is plain: Cameroon took Atabong, Archibong and Abana; the rest are in Cross River.”
He suggested Akwa Ibom’s resistance stems from fear of refunding 25 years arrears of allocations to Cross River state.
