Given that both Bauchi and Gombe States have begun asserting ownership of the oil wells, a crisis over the ownership of the Kolmani Oil and Gas field looks to be developing.
Officials and citizens from the two states have also accused one another of trying to take control of the site, which is thought to hold 500 billion standard cubic feet of gas and one billion barrels of crude oil reserves.
A few Gombe State youths claim that President Muhammadu Buhari had deliberate plans to hand over control of the Kolmani oil wells to Bauchi rather than Gombe State.
Only two weeks have passed since Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited and its joint venture partners launched oil exploration at the Kolmani oil field under the presidency of Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retired).
According to reports, Kolmani in North-East Nigeria has oil in commercial quantities. Kolmani One, Two, Three, Four, and Five are all covered by Oil Prospecting Licences 809 and 810.
During his remarks at the ceremony, President Buhari revealed that the project had received investments totaling over $3 billion up to this point.
The ownership of the oil wells discovered near the Kolmani area has so far led to violent arguments between the bordering communities on the divides.
This is in spite of statements by the governors of Bauchi and Gombe states, Bala Mohammed and Inuwa Yahaya, urging the communities to abstain from violence.
Alhaji Ahmed Gara-Gombe, who serves as a special adviser to the governor of Gombe State on information management and strategy, pointed the finger of blame at the boundary commission for the controversy.
He said
The truth of the matter is that the Kolmani oil well is in Gombe State; Akko Local Government, Pindiga emirate, Tai district, Kaltanga Mamuda ward. It has nothing to do with Bauchi State or Alkaleri Local Government.
If putting the records straight is what is seen as a crisis, so be it. The National Boundary Commission, the NNPC are hypocrites in this matter, they know the truth and they should come out clean.
The remedy, according to Gara-Gombe, is to hand over to Gombe what rightfully belongs to it, and he adds,
Kolmani. Let them go and investigate the one that is in the state of Bauchi, which is in Alkeleri. There are four oil wells located in Gombe.
On the other hand, Yusuf Mohammed Bako, a member of the Bauchi State House of Assembly who represents the Pali, responded with
It is confirmed that the place is not part of Gombe, it is historically part of Bauchi State. It is part of Alkaleri in Maimali district and all the villages surrounding the oil well are part of Alkaleri. Over 100 years ago, the traditional leaders of the area were answerable to Bauchi and pay their taxes to Bauchi.
The President once invited the governors and officials of NNPC to London for an enduring resolution, which sources said informed official ground-breaking and both governors Bala Mohammed and Inuwa”