Egbesu Assembly Sues NASS, FG Over LGAs, Resource Control _Group seeks 24 new councils for Bayelsa, revival of derivation principle. By Chris Mark
Egbesu Assembly Sues NASS, FG Over LGAs, Resource Control
_Group seeks 24 new councils for Bayelsa, revival of derivation principle.
By Chris Mark
The Supreme Egbesu Assembly (SEA) has sued the National Assembly and the Federal Government at the Federal High Court, Yenagoa, over the creation of 24 additional local government areas in Bayelsa State and the control of natural resources in Ijaw territory.
The group said it took legal action after the National Assembly and Federal Government failed to respond within 21 days to its February 12, 2026, demand letters.
“We promised legal action if there was no response. Today we kept that promise,” the SEA said Monday in a press statement signed by nine leaders, including Felix Tuodolo and Weri Digifa. “We were in court today for the first hearing of both cases.”
The SEA said the demand for more LGAs is “as old as the creation of the State itself,” noting that Bayelsa has only eight LGAs despite being an oil-producing state.
“There is nowhere in any democracy where a state is limited to just eight LGAs. More pathetic is the fact that Bayelsa State is an oil-bearing state,” the statement read.
The group argued that the state already has 24 Rural Development Authorities (RDAs) that can be converted to LGAs, which would allow Bayelsa to “participate in the sharing of allocation and the development of their areas for the purpose of justice and equity.”
On resource control, the SEA described its suit as a “revival of our age-long agitation.”
“Nigeria can no longer operate a system where contributors to the national coffers are not in charge of their resources,” the statement said. “In the earlier Republic, owners of resources like groundnut and cocoa managed their own resources and contributed a certain percentage to the national coffers. That was the way it was.”
The group said it chose the legal route “for our people” and declared that “the Ijaw Nation must be free from all economic strangulation carried out against them by successive governments.”
The SEA called on Ijaws to “be steadfast and resolute” and attend court sessions, adding: “Your solidarity is very vital at this point in our history.”
It also urged other Ijaw organisations, Niger Delta groups, and “all people of goodwill” to join the push to “control and manage our despoiled and mismanaged natural resources.”
The statement was signed by Felix Tuodolo, Weri Digifa, Ebi Waribigha, Kabowei Akamade, Rosebella Jackson, Thomas Jacklloyd, Primrose Kpokposei, David Imole, and Welman Warri for the Supreme Egbesu Assembly.
