The Ijaw National Congress, INC, has condemned the Nigerian federal government on its act of defying a court order preventing a marginal field from being auctioned.
The apex Ijaw body, in a statement on Tuesday, signed by its National President, Prof. Benjamin Okaba, labeled the move by the government to award marginal fields with litigations as an act of injustice to the Niger Delta people, particularly the Ijaws.
Okaba said the broad daylight disrespect of a court order by the federal government was “a total violation”, while insisting that the country was due for restructuring.
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The statement titled ‘Issuance of Marginal Oilfields Licences: Another Act of Federal Government Impunity’, read;
“The Ijaw National Congress (INC) condemns in very strong terms the impunity and recklessness of the Federal Government demonstrated in defying a subsisting court order stopping it from issuing Petroleum Prospecting Licences to some so-called awardees in host communities in the Niger Delta.
“The Federal Government was fully aware of the valid injunction given by the Federal High Court sitting in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, restraining it from advertising or receiving bids in respect of the marginal oilfields which are a subject of litigation in suit No. FHC/YEN/ CS/81/2020 filed before the court by some Ijaw patriots.
“The court, in its order issued on April 5, 2022 effectively restrained the Federal Government from given out or approving licences in respect of the marginal oilfields under litigation in which the office of the Minister of Petroleum was duly represented in court.
“The INC would like to place on record that the court gave the restraining order 82 clear days before the Federal Government carried out the shameful bazaar in Abuja on June 26, 2022.
“The INC views the exercise as a total violation and breach of the court order pending the determination of the case.
“The Federal Government’s broad daylight disrespect for court orders and the rule of law is legendary, callous, indecent and totally unacceptable.
“It is a clear sign that Nigeria urgently needs restructuring because the appalling behaviour of the Federal Government has continued to accelerate institutional decay and imposed despondency on the people.
“Nigeria cannot continue to operate a faulty foundation and a behemoth federal system with an amorphous government at the centre that tramples on the rule of law and spits on court orders and judgments. This is not, and cannot be a desirable trajectory for any sane society.
“We insist that the oil and gas resources of the Niger Delta people cannot continue to be shared in Abuja while our oil-producing communities suffer monumental and unmitigated environmental pollution with its attendant health hazards generated by the oil exploration and exploitation in our backyards.
“The Ijaw people’s recourse to legal means of seeking justice, equity and fairness in the distribution of their God-given oil and gas resources should not be discouraged and frustrated by the Federal Government through might and disobedience to court orders, otherwise it will be compelling the Ijaw people to device unconventional avenues to pursue the cause of justice.
“The INC, therefore, urges the Federal Government to respect the court order and cancel the licences it has dispensed while the subsisting court order has not been vacated.”
