By Ahmed Idris
President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday met behind close-door four south-south governors elected on the platform of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
The governors are Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom state, Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa state, Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta state and Nyesom Wike of Rivers state.
Fielding questions from State House correspondents after the meeting, Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa state declined to give details of what transpired between the President and the governors of the opposition party.
which started at 2:50pm, Dickson who refused details of the meeting said, discussion centered on issues concerning the south south region.
“We don’t want to go into those details,” he told journalists when he was pressed for details of the rare gathering.
He said, however, that “my colleagues and I came to have audience with the president to discuss issues pertinent to our country and pertinent to our respective states. We had a robust and fruitful discussion with the president and he promised to look into it in anyway possible.”
But Thinkers Newspaper learnt that the visit may not be unconnected with a recent Supreme Court judgment which awarded some special privileges to boost revenue of oil producing states namely Rivers, Bayelsa and Akwa Ibom.
The three states had approached the Supreme Court for the interpretation of Section 16(1) of the Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contract Act in suit number SC964/2016 filed on their behalf by their lead Counsel, Mr. Lucius Nwosu.
The particular section required the federal government to adjust the shares of the revenue accruable to the Federation whenever the price of crude oil exceeds 20 dollars per barrel.
The judgment, delivered by Justice John Okoro, mandated the federal government to embark on an upward adjustment of the shares of revenues accruing to the government whenever the price of crude oil exceeds $20 per barrel.
