The Lagos State government has described a former militant and in the Niger Delta, Asari Dokubo, as a comedian who should not be taken seriously for faulting reports on discovery of oil in the state.
Dokubo had in a statement posted on his facebook faulted reports on the discovery of oil in Lagos State, saying the reported oil wells were situated in the Niger Delta territory.
Reacting to Dokubo’s claim, Steve Ayorinde, Commissioner for Information, Lagos State said, “We appreciate Asari Dokubo’s sense of humour. But oil and gas is no subject of comedy. The oil discovery in Lagos is a reality that won’t lend itself to jokes.
Ayorinde added, “Lagos works with or without oil. And our plan for this Africa’s 5th largest economy is to begin to run without depending on federal allocation in a couple of years.”
The oil discovered in Badagry, according to him, will work for the citizens just like Lagos will continue to work for everybody under Governor Akinwumi Ambode.
In his statement, Dokubo accused the Federal Government of the greatest fraud and called for an international inquiry into the alleged discovery.
“There are wild celebrations all over the Nigerian state that substantial hydro carbon deposit had been discovered in the continental shelf, off the coast of Lagos in the Bight of Benin.
“This is to spite the Ijaw and Niger Delta that they too are now oil producing state. If this is true we will not have any quarrel with the findings. Since Ondo, a predominantly Yoruba state had been producing hydro carbon in commercial quantity and was included by General Olusegun Obasanjo in the political Niger Delta. The case of Lagos is very fraudulent as the mining license OML113 granted to the company of late Abdulwahab Yinka Folawiyo, Yinka Folawiyo Petroleum Company Ltd is nowhere near or close to the constitutionally recognized boundaries of Lagos State or within the contiguous continental shelf of Lagos State. The area where OML113 is located is off the boundaries of and the contiguous continental shelf of Bayelsa and Delta states.
“The international hydro carbon mappings are public documents and are in the public domain for sighting and reference. It is the greatest fraud of all time to physically steal and transmute the God given resources of the Ijaw and Niger Delta and to transfer same to Lagos State.
“Is it not enough to thief our resources through your constitutional abracadabra that you are now resorting to korokoro thief,” he stated.
He called for an independent international hydro carbon and cartographic inquiry into the claim.
“On our part, we will not allow any part of or grain of sand of the Ijaw and Niger Delta to be confiscated or appropriated by anybody,” he added.
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