By John ODHE, YENAGOA
The law suit instituted by Ekpetiama Kingdom in Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State against Shell Petroleum Development Company Nigeria Limited (SPDC) and six others in 25 over the sales of assets in the kingdom without the community’s knowledge or consent has suffered yet another delay.
This is as the trial judge, Justice Ayo Emmanuel of the Federal High Court sitting in Yenagoa on Wednesday, adjourned the matter to June 17, 2026 over power outage during the court, which according to him, was not conducive to hear the preliminary objections filed by three of the defendants including; Renaissance African Energy Limited and the Attorney General of the Federal.
Speaking to newsmen, the prosecuting counsel, Chuks Oguru, expressed regret over the adjournment and maintained that as a matter of particular public interest litigation, it required some urgency, especially as the defendants have repeatedly applied gimmicks to stall the hearing of the matter instituted a year ago on its merit.
Also speaking, Mr. Prince Edegbuo, the Resource Justice Manager of Social Action, an interested party in the matter, described the adjournment as unfortunate and lampooned the development as one which exposes the unavailability of social amenities in the country, especially as it affects a people who are in dire need of seeking redress on a matter that affects their well-being.
On his part, the Ibenanaowei of Ekpetiama kingdom, His Royal Majesty, King Bubaraye Dakolo, barring the delays, reaffirmed the commitment to challenge and get justice for his people who have hosted Shell in their community for over 60 years, during which the company’s oil activities damaged their environment and made life difficult, before suddenly disappearing on the premises of sales assets to another company.
Also listed in the suit included; Shell Petroleum N.V., Shell PLC, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the Minister for Petroleum Resources.
