Governor Ahmed spoke yesterday in Ilorin when he received a team of Media Trust officials led by Managing Director of the company Alhaji Isiaq Ajibola.

The onshore/offshore dichotomy controversy resurfaced recently when Kano State Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso called for a review of a 2002 law that abolished the dichotomy, thereby funneling billions of naira monthly to seven littoral states as part of their derivation revenues.

Soon after Kwankwaso's remarks, the Presidency issued a statement warning against reopening an issue that is said was settled. Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi and his Delta State counterpart Emmanuel Uduaghan also spoke against a return to the dichotomy days.

Until yesterday when the Kwara State governor made his position known, only Niger State governor Muazu Babangida Aliyu so far spoke publicly in line with Kwankwaso's calls.

"I share the view with the governor of Kano state, and I feel that we should go back again and look at the issue. States that produce oil today should be allowed to enjoy the benefits they are enjoying today but not to the extent of taking as much as what is accruable from the high sea," Governor Ahmed said.

He said the dichotomy abrogation law took things too far by conferring rights on the littoral states over oil derived from the highs seas.

Governor Ahmed said proceeds of oil derived from the high seas should accrue to the general coffers and be shared to all the constituents of the federation.

Speaking on the likely presence of crude oil deposits in Kwara State, the governor said the government undertook an independent assessment of some substance discovered in the state through a Canadian firm which confirmed that the substance is crude oil.

He said the substance was also taken to the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) which however concluded that the specimen did not indicate there was oil in Kwara.

Ahmed said the state government decided to rest the matter as it does not want to be drawn into the politics of oil yet.

"At a time some farmers around the Araan-rin area saw some substances which initially they thought was engine oil. But this was in the bush, it wasn't close to the road as the nearest road from there is not less than half a kilometer, so the possibility of may be an oil tanker falling there was ruled out," he said, tracing the story of Kwara's oil ‘discovery'.

"The only option that was likely was maybe there was a broken pipe of crude oil and we consulted with a few people who knew about the map of pipe. And they told us that the pipe taking oil to Kaduna has nothing to do with that path. Then the curiosity began to increase; what could this substance be?

"We got the substance and took it to a few people and asked them to have a first look at it and they looked at it and they said it was similar to the crude oil we have in the South South. Well they were not in the best position to determine whether it was crude oil or not, it was still highly speculative especially as it was being independently reviewed.

"So we drew the attention of the DPR. They took samples and came back to tell us that they did not think it was crude oil. I'm aware that even if it crude oil it is  not likely to occur where it was found because from geological findings you have what is called the igneous rock formation and from what I have been told by experts, it does not trap crude oil. If it was oil that was found there it must have leaked through a fault from the Bida basin axis.

"Of course we do not have to overstretch ourselves, if God says there is crude oil there, if we do not find it, the next generation of Nigerians will come and find it. But for now we don't want to get our elves enmeshed in the crude oil politics.

"For your information, we have taken our samples as far as Canada and they confirmed to us it was crude oil. But for us to begin to take it to the next level, requires confirmation from the DPR because of the way things are structured in Nigeria."