A group, Akwa Ibom Leaders Vanguard, has warned against moves to bring back the abrogated contentious issue of onshore/ offshore, saying it would throw the country into catastrophe.
The group took the position following the submission of the restructuring and true federalism committee headed by Nasir el-Rufai, Kaduna State governor to John Odigie-Oyekun, national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Akwa Ibom has been a major beneficiary of the abrogated dichotomy as most of its oil resources are found offshore and this has earned the state much revenue from the derivation principle.
A spokesman for the group, Anietie Okon warned that any attempt to reintroduce onshore/offshore dichotomy in the sharing of oil revenue would be disastrous.
“We want to state explicitly and unambiguously our concerns and consternation about the ambivalent and duplicitous position of the APC as it is clear to every discerning mind that the APC is a party in disarray,’’ he said.
Speaking on behalf of the leaders, Anietie Okon said the party’s position on resource control clearly portends an “irredeemable disaster for Nigeria”, adding that the report has once again uncovered the evil agenda of the party.
He said the report brings to the fore the unlimited confusion which according to him is the hallmark of the APC in which the country has been subjected to in the past three years.
Wondering why the bigwigs of the APC in the south-south region are “dangerously quiet over this calculated attempt to subtly reintroduce through the back door the vexed onshore/offshore oil dichotomy that has long been settled in Nigeria,’’ he said Akwa Ibom would never accept any recourse to onshore/offshore dichotomy.
Okon maintained that recent moves to reintroduce the dichotomy are illegal, describing it as an expensive joke taken too far. He added that the country might not survive this backdoor attempt to bring back what had long been settled.
Okon, a chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), also picked holes in President Muhammadu Buhari’s New Year message over plans to construct a rail line to Maradi in Niger State while many states in the country do not have any rail link.
He also called on the APC to come to terms with the “reality regarding true federalism that has been overwhelmingly endorsed by Nigerians as the only credible pathway to sustainable development and continued existence of Nigeria as an indivisible virile and strong nation,’’ saying that the party in Akwa Ibom State should stand up and be counted at this critical moment in the country’s history “especially as it affects the people of Akwa Ibom State.’’
ANIEFIOK UDONQUAK, Uyo
