When Crude Oil redrew old Maps: Inside Ogun–Ondo Eba Island bitter feud

By Kazeem Ugbodaga

An oil discovery on Eba Island has ignited a heated interstate dispute between Ogun and Ondo States, exposing deep-rooted historical, legal and communal faultlines in the Niger Delta coastal corridor. What began as a celebration over renewed crude oil drilling has rapidly spiralled into a complex tussle over territorial jurisdiction, historical record, ethnic identity and resource ownership.

At the centre of the controversy is a long-abandoned oil well on Eba Island, a riverine community near the border between Ogun Waterside Local Government Area in Ogun and Ilaje Local Government Area in Ondo. The dispute flared after President Bola Tinubu approved the resumption of drilling activities at the site, prompting competing claims from both states over which has the rightful custodianship of the land and its hydrocarbon wealth.

The Ogun State Government has been unequivocal in asserting that Eba Island and the oil well thereof lies wholly within its territory. In a strongly worded statement, the government described rival assertions from parts of Ondo as “misleading and capable of inflaming communal tension.”

The claim was articulated by Hon. Kayode Akinmade, Special Adviser to the Ogun Governor on Information and Strategy, who emphasised that Nigeria’s state and local government boundaries are constitutionally defined and officially documented by the National Boundary Commission. According to Ogun’s position, official maps place Eba Island squarely in Ogun Waterside Local Government Area, with no constitutional amendment, court ruling or federal gazette ever having altered this fact.

Ogun’s government has also cited historical records, polling unit registration by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), geospatial surveys, and due diligence carried out by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and other federal regulatory bodies to support its jurisdictional claim. It underscored that naval security deployments around the drilling site further demonstrate federal recognition of Ogun as the host state.

In stark contrast, the Ondo State Government has formally rejected Ogun’s assertion as “unacceptable,” “misleading,” and rooted in sensational media statements rather than empirical fact. In its response, issued by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Communication and Strategy, Allen Sowore, Ondo insisted that the oil-bearing territory is located within Ilaje Local Government Area and belongs to that state. The statement reaffirmed that oil resources fall under federal ownership but stressed that territorial location must be “lawfully determined” by reference to constitutional, historical and judicial processes, not press releases.

Ondo’s position draws on longstanding claims that Eba and surrounding communities are part of the Ilaje ethnic homeland, a contiguous Yoruba littoral stretch that extends from the Atlantic coastline in Lagos through Ondo’s coastal belt. Demarcation records and cultural memory, the state argues, align with the idea that the contested land is inherently part of its administrative and historical jurisdiction.

The dispute is not merely an interstate contest between governors; it reflects competing claims at the community and traditional levels. Egbe Omo Ilaje Worldwide, a leading Ilaje sociocultural organisation, has dismissed Ogun’s claims as encroachment on Ondo State’s territorial integrity, warning against unilateral development schemes such as oil drilling or proposed port facilities that purportedly alter historical boundaries.

Adding to the contention, two neighbouring towns within Ogun’s own Waterside area, Ode-Omi and Makun Omi, have staked rival claims over custodianship of Eba Island, illustrating that internal disputes among Ogun communities may also fuel instability. A letter from the Balogun of Ode Omi Kingdom argued that Eba historically belonged to his kingdom’s ruling houses, challenging competing claims within the state itself.

As tensions have mounted, the House of Representatives has urged the Federal Government to intervene and engage the National Boundary Commission urgently to clarify the status of the Eba Island–Atijere area, warning that unresolved claims could spark communal unrest and threaten law and order.

Observers note that the contention over Eba Island highlights broader challenges in Nigeria’s boundary documentation, where colonial-era demarcations, community migration and overlapping customary allegiances often blur clearly defined administrative lines.

Ogun insisted that exhaustive cartographic and geospatial reviews support its jurisdiction, while Ondo maintained that its cultural and historical ties, buttressed by ethnographic records and traditional boundaries, held primacy. Without definitive judicial determination or federal boundary adjudication, the dispute remains unresolved, threatening investment, delaying exploration timelines, and risking local conflict.

With both states holding fast to their positions, the dispute over Eba Island enters a critical phase. Legal determinations by the National Boundary Commission, possible court adjudication, or political negotiation could shape the outcome. Meanwhile, residents, whose livelihoods depend on fishing, farming and increasingly oil, watch anxiously as government rhetoric intensifies.

Calls for calm and restraint have come from various quarters, but the underlying tensions reflect a mix of identity, resource politics and administrative ambiguity that cannot be easily resolved through political statements alone. As crude oil drilling progresses, so too does the contest over not just the land, but its future as a potential economic frontier.