Oil feud: Jonathan, Amaechi, Kalabari elders to meet

President Goodluck Jonathan,  may have  invited Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, over the lingering oil wells feud between Rivers and Bayelsa  states.
Jonathan’s intervention in the dispute is coming barely 24 hours after he mediated in another row among Anambra, Kogi and Enugu states.
Some Kalabari elders in Rivers State had accused Jonathan of complicity in an alleged plot to cede  oil wells in some communities in the state to Bayelsa in order to shore up the earnings of the President’s home state.
Presidency on Tuesday denounced   the allegation as blackmail.
A top government source told our correspondent on Thursday that the President decided to invite Amaechi  to what he called “a peace parley.”
It was learnt that Amaechi is expected to be accompanied to the meeting fixed for this weekend at the Presidential Villa by some notable Kalabari elders.
The source said the meeting was meant to ensure that all aggrieved persons and groups maintained  their calm while the situation is being resolved.
The source added that Jonathan was not comfortable with the way his name  was being dragged into the controversy.
He said the government would use the opportunity of the meeting to disabuse the minds of the governor and the Kalabari elders on his alleged involvement.
Protesters under the aegis of  the Kalabari National Forum and some monarchs from Rivers State  on Tuesday in  Abuja accused  Jonathan of interfering in the dispute between the two states.
The protesters were said to have alleged that there were plans to cede five Rivers State’s oil communities to Bayelsa with the connivance of various Federal Government agencies.
The Presidency advised the Kalabari National Forum, its members and those it called “its hidden sponsors” to avoid the temptation to instigate conflict between the Nembe and Kalabari people of Rivers and Bayelsa states.
It advised that the statutory agencies assigned the responsibility of resolving boundary disputes should be allowed to do their work.
Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson had also accused the Rivers State Government of blackmailing the President and asked for an unreserved apology. But   Rivers  State Government said it had no reason to blackmail Jonathan whom  it called “a worthy son in-law.”
Meanwhile, the paramount ruler of Oluasiri in Nembe Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, King Iyerite Awulu, has recommended boundary demarcation as a permanent solution to the Soku oil wells dispute.
The monarch said Jonathan should not intervene in the dispute because the issues at stake predated his (President) birth.
Awululu, in an interview in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, said the National Boundary Commission should intervene in the feud to avert possible bloodshed between indigenes of the two states.
He described as misplaced, claims by the Kalabari National Forum that Bayelsa Government was planning to annex five oil rich communities in Kalabari Kingdom.
He said the controversial Soku Gas Plant was located on Oluasiri territory in Nembe, Bayelsa State and not on Kalabiri land as being claimed by Rivers people.
“Oluasiri is the 13th ward in Nembe council area and it has a boundary with Odua, Abua and Akuku-Toru. The Soku Gas Plant is at the centre of Oluasiri land. The place is far from Soku and it is a minimum of 22 minutes drive on the fastest speed boat,” Awululu said.
However, Former National Vice Chairman of the All Nigeria Peoples Party, Chief Asukewe Iko-Awaji, has asked the Federal Government to return the N17bn paid to Bayelsa to the special account pending the end of the disagreement between the state and Rivers.
Iko-Awaji explained that it was wrong for the Federal Government to have paid Bayelsa the funds when the boundary dispute between the two states had not been resolved, pointing out that it was necessary for both states to also allow the National Boundary Commission to do its work without undue influence.
Iko-Awaji, who spoke in a telephone interview with The PUNCH on Thursday, called on the Bayelsa State Government to ensure that the money was intact.
He urged the Federal Government to play the role of a ‘father’ on the matter so as to ensure that justice was done and peace reigned between the two states