‘Akwa Ibom open to negotiating with Cross River on 76 oil wells’

Governor Godswill Akpabio says Akwa Ibom State is not averse to entering into a dialogue with Cross River State on the issue of the 76 oil wells  which ownership by Akwa Ibom State was affirmed by the Supreme Court in  a recent judgment.

Akpabio, speaking during the monthly prayer meeting held at John’s Chaplaincy, Governor’s Lodge, Uyo, said, ‘’Akwa Ibom is extending a further hand of fellowship that, despite the Supreme Court judgment, it  is still ready to enter into dialogue with Cross River State on the issue of the 76 oil wells’’.

He deplored reports  misquoting him during the legal tussle on the disputed  oil wells earlier controlled by Cross River State, and said he would gladly enter into such dialogue with Cross River State in the interest of brotherhood, peace and ancestral bonds.

The governor said he would not be distracted to break the box of democracy, promising to do his best with available resources and leave the rest for his successor to continue from where he will stop.

‘’I won’t be angry like the Biblical Moses who broke the tablet of God’s commandments on return from Mount Sinai to see the idolatrous worshipping of a golden calf by the Israelites. While in office with so much work done, I am still being criticized. I see the criticisms as good for my administration’’, Akpabio noted.