Violence Erupts At Oil Spill Site In Ogoni ***Group Tasks Rivers Police On Investigation, Seeks Compensation For Farmers
3 min read
Edith CHUKU
A certain Mr. Gift Gongogo Nene, is said to have been stabbed on the head following a violence that erupted at a site where crude oil spilled in Ogale Manifold in the Eleme Local Government Area of Ogoni, Rivers State, on Monday.
Gongogo was said to have been attacked at the spill site by some boys who invaded the area, alleged to be heavily armed.
This is happening few days after president Bola Ahmed Tinubu, through his assent to a bill passed by the National Assembly sponsored by Senator Barinaadaa Mpigi representing the Rivers South-East Senatorial District, approved the establishment of a Federal University of Environmental Technology, Ogoni.
The spill at the manifold owned and operated by Shell Petroleum Development Company SPDC of Nigeria, is suspected to have been caused by equipment (valve) failure.
An environmentalist, Dr. Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface, who is the Executive Director of Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre YEAC-Nigeria, revealed this to TNN in a statement on Tuesday.
Fyneface stated that, the issue was reported to YEAC by the ‘One Million Youth Volunteers Network of Human Rights Defenders and Promoters in the Niger Delta.
He said “the volunteers reported to YEAC-Nigeria that the manifold spill, after it filled the underground pits, started flowing freely to the pipeline right of way that separated Lot-1 of the Ogoni cleanup Project of the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) of the Federal Ministry of Environment in Ogale.
“The volunteers said they suspected that the spill at the manifold owned and operated by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) of Nigeria, a company that the community has been in a United Kingdom High Court with till date over previous oil spill is caused by equipment (valve) failure while contractors were carrying out maintenance work on the facility today.”
The YEAC director noted that, “the volunteers reported and decried the associated violence and application of force by the Eleme Youth President, Mr. Walter Olaka during his by invading(sic) the spill site with alleged armed boys, confiscating trucks that were being used to evacuate the spilled crude oil, beating up some of the drivers whose trucks were already seized and parked at the Eleme Council Secretariat and injuring some persons in the process including Mr. Gift Gongogo Nene who was allegedly daggered on the head by some of the boys reported to have invaded the scene with dangerous small arms and light weapons including guns.”
He further called for Police investigation into the incidents with a view of restoring peace among the warring parties.
“The advocacy centre, through its Crude Oil Spill Alert System (COSAS), call on the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) to carry out a joint investigation visit (JIV) on the spill site, invoke sections of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), 2021 and ensure that containment and clean-up are done with adequate compensation paid to those whose economic crops are impacted by the spill in the area.