Former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Paul Usoro, SAN, has reaffirmed that only the Supreme Court can review its two judgments affirming Akwa Ibom State’s ownership of 76 offshore oil wells disputed with neighboring Cross River State.
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Usoro made the clarification on Monday in Uyo, alongside Uko Udom, the state’s Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, as the Akwa Ibom government called for calm amid renewed media attention over Cross River’s claims.
“The Supreme Court did not leave any loophole because the central question is whether you have access to the sea, and whether you abut the sea. Only the Supreme Court can review its decision,” Usoro said.
Udom emphasized that the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) had only received a draft report from a federal inter-agency committee on February 13, 2026. He stressed the report is not a final decision or a recommendation to reallocate the oil wells.
He traced the legal history of the dispute, noting that in Suit No. 124/1999, Cross River sued Akwa Ibom over northern non-estuarine boundaries and the southern estuarine area containing the offshore wells. The Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that Cross River had no claim over the southern estuarine territory and reaffirmed Akwa Ibom’s entitlement in a 2012 judgment following the 2002 International Court of Justice (ICJ) cession of the Bakassi Peninsula.
“No oil well has been ceded. No Supreme Court judgment has been overturned, and no constitutional provision has been amended. Akwa Ibom will not relinquish what rightfully belongs to our people under the Constitution and binding judicial authority,” Udom said, urging citizens to remain calm and confident.
Both Usoro and Udom reiterated that the Supreme Court’s rulings remain binding, and that the state’s rights to the offshore oil wells are firmly established under law and geography.
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