By Kelvin Obambon
Former Senate Leader, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, SAN, has fired back at critics over what he described as a “deliberate misrepresentation” of his past contributions regarding the Bakassi Peninsula and the loss of 76 oil wells by Cross River State.
In a strongly-worded statement released on Saturday, the former Board Chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) dismissed attempts to use selective quotations from his time in the 6th Senate to paint him as disloyal to the state’s interests.
Ndoma-Egba, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, declared his “unequivocal” support for Governor Bassey Edet Otu’s current efforts to reclaim the state’s hydrocarbon assets through constitutional and scientific means. He noted that recent narratives aimed at his person were “politically motivated” and designed to sow division.
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“The Bakassi matter is not one for political manipulation, cheap propaganda, or media sensationalism,” he said. “It is a deeply sensitive, historical, territorial, humanitarian, and economic issue that has profoundly affected the dignity and livelihoods of Cross Riverians.”
The former lawmaker clarified that his previous interventions in the 6th Senate were guided by the legal and constitutional realities of that era. However, he emphasized that his current stance is bolstered by significant advancements in maritime and geological science that did not exist during his tenure in the Red Chamber.
A major highlight of the Senator’s statement was the technical argument for Cross River’s rights. He pointed out that Nigeria’s continental shelf geological rights have been further clarified since the loss of the wells.
“New scientific datasets and inter-agency geospatial mapping exercises have identified up to 245 surface well coordinates, many of which demonstrate basin-wide reservoir continuity within the Cross River Basin,” Ndoma-Egba explained.
He argued that hydrocarbon accumulations are governed by “sedimentary basin evolution” rather than “political labels such as littoral or non-littoral status.”
The Senator further clarified that the 2002 International Court of Justice (ICJ) judgment was strictly about boundaries and did not extinguish Cross River State’s geological rights or internal petroleum interests.
Commending Governor Bassey Otu for his “institutional discipline,” Ndoma-Egba described the Governor’s evidence-based approach – relying on geodetic surveys and bathymetric data – as the “appropriate pathway” for resolving the long-standing derivation dispute.
He also lamented that the 2008 administrative transfer of oil wells to Akwa Ibom State was a “unilateral adjustment” made without rigorous scientific verification.
Reiterating his commitment to the state, the former Senate Leader recalled his role in the struggle for state creation and insisted that the emergence of Akwa Ibom was never intended to lead to the economic marginalization of Cross River.
“Cross River State was not privy to the diplomatic processes that culminated in the cession of Bakassi. It would be unjust for our state to suffer perpetual economic penalties for decisions taken at the federal level,” he stated.
Ndoma-Egba concluded by calling on all stakeholders to align behind a strategy anchored on science and law, noting that “technology has preserved my full contributions on the floor of the Senate,” and that no amount of innuendo would alter his commitment to the state.
