THE Rivers State Government says it was not necessary to be drawn into fray over the allegations of the Bayelsa State Government and President Goodluck Jonathan which condemned the protest by Kalabari Chiefs in Akuku-Toru Local Government Area of the State.
Kalabari Chiefs had on Wednesday staged a peaceful protest with their wives and children against ceding of over 80 per cent of their oil-bearing communities to Bayelsa State.
The State Commissioner for Information and Communication, Mrs. Ibim Seminetaria said though the ugly development was quite grave, she believed that it could be resolved using the appropriate channels and organs.
Seminataria, however, said the state is forced to respond to the grave and mischievous allegations made by both the government of Bayelsa State and the Presidency on the matter. She noted that it had become necessary to do so in order to safeguard the interest of Rivers State and to protect the constitutional rights of the Kalabari people to seek redress in the face of an unfair expropriation of their natural resources.
"The facts of the matter as even presented by the Government of Bayelsa State, indeed justify the protest of the Kalabari people. While the Bayelsa State Government admits that the communities in question are indeed Kalabari communities and clans, it however, would like the proceeds from these oil wells and resources that are located in these Kalabari communities to be paid to and appropriated by Bayelsa State, because of what Bayelsa state describes as 'the way and manner states in the Niger Delta were created'. This is illogical as it means that Bayelsa State can be paid revenues from oil wells in Rivers State and vice versa," she added.
Continuing, Seminetaria said, "while not refuting the fact that the settlements in question are part of Kalabari land, the Bayelsa Government statement admits, interestingly, that 'even if any land in question in Bayelsa is found to be the ancestral land of any family, community or clan in Kalabari clan, it does not detract from the right of the state to receive derivation. In the same vein, it does not also detract from the ownership or title to such land, by the family, community or clan which must be acknowledged and treated as such." How incongruous! Is the Bayelsa State government saying that while the land might belong to the Kalabari communities, the wealth accruing from these lands should belong to the people of Bayelsa? How then do the communities benefit from their God-given resources."
The Commissioner explained that the position of the Bayelsa State Government is that "by the 11th edition of the administrative map of Nigeria published in 2000, Bayelsa State as a state was entitled to derivation and other claims from oil production in respect of oil exploration carried out within its territory as stated in the said map.
Semenitaria, however, noted that the Bayelsa State government by that has conveniently left out the fact that from colonial times up till the 10th edition of the administrative map of Nigeria, the boundaries between the Kalabari communities in Rivers State and the neighbouring Nembe communities of Bayelsa State had been clearly delineated with the boundary clearly marked as the Santa Barbara River."
