Oil wells: A/Ibom ready for negotiation –Akpabio

Says “While in office with so much work done, I am still being criticised. I see the criticisms as good for my administration.”

Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State says he is not averse to dialoguing with Cross River State on the disputed 76 oil wells.

The Supreme Court recently conferred ownership of the oil wells on Akwa Ibom.

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

The two states, according to him, remain brothers ,adding: ‘’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 criticised. I see the criticisms as good for my administration.”   

On the Etebi-Enwang Road, he pledged his administration’s resolve to complete the road with the longest bridge in the state and acknowledged the economic value of the road to Akwa Ibom people.