A Pressure group, Cross River Destiny Project Council, has appealed to President Bola Tinubu to reverse the 18 years of injustice inflicted on Cross River State through a 2008 provisional map issued by the National Boundary Commission, which wrongfully ceded the state’s oil wells to a neighbouring state.

The Chairman of the group, Archbishop Josef Bassey, made the appeal in Calabar while explaining the Federal Government’s renewed quest, through its agencies, to remap states and address disputes over the location of oil wells.

He said that the reversal of that decision would go a long way toward demonstrating that Nigeria does not reward theft, protect falsehood, or punish loyalty.

He also appealed to the President to replace the fraudulent 2008 model with the 2025 verified dataset, address the transboundary risks created by this injustice, and ensure finality in the oil wells dispute.

While condemning the provisional map, Archbishop Bassey said the 245 oil wells in Cross River State, confirmed by a 2025 federal scientific review, have exposed 18 years of falsehoods that stripped the state of its rightful revenue.

He said the document, which was never scientific, lawful, finalised, or authenticated, was weaponised to erase the state from the nation’s economic map.

He said: “In November 2025, Nigeria’s own Inter-Agency Committee on Maritime Boundaries, using official national geodetic data, satellite positioning, and subsurface reservoir analysis, confirmed the truth that the state has 245 verified oil wells.

“Over 42 of these wells sit on subsurface structures contiguous with Cameroon, and by refusing to correct this injustice, Nigeria risks transboundary disputes. I stand before you as the Archbishop of Calabar, and as a witness to the slow bleeding of the land.

“For nearly 18 years, Cross River State was officially recorded as having zero oil wells, while 245 oil wells were drilled, pumped, and sustained the Nigerian economy from within our territory.

“This was the deliberate weakening of a people, until the state became trapped in survival mode.”