Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Ondo State, Dr Kayode Ajulo, has said that historical and archival documents have further justified that the controversial oil-rich Eba Island belongs to Ondo State and not Ogun State.

According to Ajulo, incontrovertible evidence from the United Kingdom repositories indicated that the island had historically been an integral part of Ondo State territory.

While countering the recent assertions by the Ogun State Government regarding ownership of the island, the Attorney General described the dispute over the oil-bearing island as “astonishing”, noting that official records and decades of uninterrupted administration had consistently recognised it as Ondo territory.

Ajulo emphasised that before the 1914 amalgamation of Nigeria, Eba Island formed part of the Ilaje/Mahin country within the Lagos Colony, noting that in 1885, the Amapetu of Mahin signed a protection treaty with colonial authorities, formally bringing the Mahin Kingdom, including Atijere and Eba Island, under the aegis of the Lagos Colony.

The Attorney General maintained that generations of Ilaje indigenes had continuously lived, fished, farmed and worshipped on Eba Island without interruption, adding that they had never paid allegiance or royalties to any Ogun State authority.

MEANWHILE, President Bola Tinubu yesterday announced the resolution of the long-running dispute over Oil Prospecting Licence (OPL) 245, clearing the path for the development of one of Nigeria’s most commercially significant deepwater oil assets.

The breakthrough followed the signing of a settlement agreement between the Federal Government of Nigeria, ENI, and Nigerian Agip Exploration Limited (NAEL) at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The meeting was attended by the Chief Executive Officer of ENI, Claudio Descalzi; the company’s Chief Operating Officer, Guido Brusco; Head of Sub-Saharan Region, Mario Bello; Managing Director of Nigerian Agip Exploration, Fabrizio Bolondi; and the President’s Special Adviser on Energy, Olu Verheijen.

The agreement brings to an end more than 15 years of legal and commercial disputes surrounding the oil block, widely regarded as one of Nigeria’s most promising deepwater assets.