Headline

Crisis Brews As Oil Is Discovered In Delta Community

Published

4 years ago

October 6, 2021

A crisis is currently brewing after oil was discovered in Evue/Igbighogho bushes in Oviri-Olomu Community in Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State.

DAILY POST learnt that five families including Edariese Efedjamah, Irevwiruemu, George Akanuota, Onakota and Ashe families are claiming ownership of the said land.

Four out of the five families, at a press conference held in Udu Local Government Area, said only the five families should be paid compensations and allowed to enjoy the benefits accruable from the land.

They added that only the five families should be entitled to contract awards, employments, Christmas gifts, scholarships and job slots taking place in the land.

While noting that 60 per cent of royalties should be paid to the families, and 40 per cent to the community, the four families said some persons who claimed to be leaders of the community included additional four family names to the already existing five families who originally own the land.

They accused the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, NPDC, of failure, neglect and refusal to carry them along in the negotiations that led to the acquisition of the land as well as assessment of the project as regards the quantum of compensation payable to them before moving to the land for drilling purposes.

They warned that if caution is not exercised by the NPDC, their actions may lead to a serious crisis in the community.

Speaking on behalf of the Edariese Family, Comrade (Elder) A.P. Edariese said the five families mentioned above owned the land and not nine as forwarded to NPDC by some faceless persons.

He said the five families have been grossly denied their rights to fair compensation for their properties destroyed on the land and totally denied all payments for loss of use of the land as well as their rights to be paid anything under the freedom to operate both at the time of preparation for drilling and now that the company has moved into the land for drilling purposes by NPDC.

While noting that the land is not owned by the Oviri-Olomu Community, Edariese said individuals and families owned the lands.

He said NPDC respects the five families for decency, reasonable fairness and justice allow peace to reign supreme if they want to do business in the land.

Edariese stressed that NPDC imported strange names who have no mandate to lead or represent the community for negotiations against the cries of the five families.

“They refused to hearken to these long calls and cries.

“NPDC is hereby placed on caution, Solemnly advised and warned never to do anything with Chief John Ewenede and his cohorts,” he said.

He said Chief Ewenede and others do not have the mandate of the community to represent the four families in the acquisition of their land by NPDC for the new oil location that’s being developed.

The fallout he said is that one Chief Friday Akporere and other individuals including, Francis Everhe, Pastor David Okoro, Paulina Olosa Orishe sat with NPDC, negotiated the quantum of compensation to be paid to landowners at a meeting.

He said NPDC official land department and consultants, ESV Baridi Baridoma, doing business in the name and style of Baridi Baridoma Consulting, conspired together and inserted four strange names on the location site.

The consultant, NPDC officials, and others were said to have shared the money provided for compensation.

Edariese noted that he and three others were allegedly held hostages at Wellington Hotel in Effurun, Uvwie Local Government Area by an NPDC consultant.

He said he was forced to collect the sum of N1.5 million on behalf of his family by the consultant.

According to him, “he threatened that I love myself, I should collect the money. That if the Lords in Oviri-Olomu Community knows he is dealing with me, he will be in trouble. I should accept the money. I accepted the money under duress. I had to sign the cheque. He said my family was fortunate because we got the larger sum and others got peanuts.”

Mr. Shedrack Akanuota, a representative of the George Akanuota family, corroborated the claims of Edariese saying, only five families owned the land wherein NPDC is currently carrying out drilling works at the moment and not nine as it was mentioned and forwarded to them by some faceless persons.

He said, “They have really sidelined us yet, operation is going on in this land. I don’t know on whose permission NPDC has gone to carry out their operation.

” So, if they have negotiated with any group of persons before, they should know that they have negotiated with the wrong persons. NPDC needs to correct it now.”

He said NPDC should know that some of the transactions may lead to a crisis in communities where oil is located.

According to him, “NPDC should be cautious of themselves if they are going into communities for transactions to avoid any loss of lives and properties.

“I want NPDC to take note that they have transacted wrong businesses with wrong persons. They need to correct it.”

Mr. David Irhoremu, a representative of the Irhoremu family, one of the families that claimed ownership of the land insisted that only five families owned the land wherein NPDC operates.

He said NPDC does not know the landlords they are dealing with. “They’re dealing with masquerades. Persons who parade themselves to be representative of the community.”

Irhoremu said NPDC is working contrary to the constitution of the Oviri-Olomu Community. “They’re operating outside the constitution. We want to advise NPDC to retrace their steps so that there will be no bloodshed, there will be no court matters.”

Irhiremu said nobody will down with his/hers folded, eyes closed and watched their Godgiven heritage carted away from them by hoodlums.

“We are not against NPDC operating in our land. It is a welcome development that oil is being discovered in our land. But they should follow due process. They should come back to the landlords, there should be an MoU so that there will be peace in the land in the community.”

Present at the press conference were, Comrade (Elder) A P. Edariese, Paul Edariese,Edariese Pius Edariese of Edariese family, David Irhoremu from Irhoremu family, Obakpororo Ashe with Kingsley Ashe, grandchildren of the Ashe family and Shedrack Akanuota from the George Akanuota family in Oviri-Olomu Community in Ughelli South Local Government Area.

Efforts to speak with NPDC were unsuccessful at the time of writing this report.

(DAILY POST)

Headline

12 Feared Dead In Kenya Light Aircraft Crash

Published

2 days ago

October 28, 2025

Editor

A small plane travelling from Kenya’s coast crashed on Tuesday, according to the country’s aviation authority, with the 12 people on board feared dead.

The small plane was en route to Kichwa Tembo — a private airstrip located in the Maasai Mara National Park — from the tourist hotspot of Diani when it came down at around 5:30am local time (0230 GMT).

“The aircraft had 12 persons on board,” a statement from the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) said.

It gave no further details, but said that government agencies were already on site to establish the cause of the accident.

The Guardian reports that plane crashes are fairly common in Kenya in the last 18 months. On March 5, 2024, a mid-air collision between a Safarilink Aviation commercial flight and a 99 Flying School training aircraft occurred over the Nairobi National Park, resulting in two fatalities.

The incident took place shortly after both aircraft had departed Wilson Airport. The collision involved Safarilink Aviation Flight 053, a De Havilland Canada Dash 8 carrying 39 passengers and five crew members, and a 99 Flying School Cessna 172M.

AMREF Aircraft Crash

In August, a light aircraft belonging to the AMREF Flying Doctors crashed into a residential area in Mwihoko, Ruiru, Kiambu County, killing six people and injuring at least two others.

The aircraft, a Cessna Citation XLS (registration 5Y-FDM), had taken off from Wilson Airport and was en route to Hargeisa, Somalia, when it went down under unclear circumstances.

AMREF Flying Doctors CEO Stephen Gitau issued a statement confirming the incident. Mr Gitau noted that the aircraft departed Wilson Airport at 2.17 PM before crashing in Mwihoko. He stated that the organisation is “cooperating fully with relevant aviation authorities and emergency response teams to establish the facts surrounding the situation.”

Foreign Couple Killed in Kenyan Plane Crash, Earlier in January, a light aircraft crash killed a foreign couple aboard. The accident involved a Cessna 185 aircraft that departed from Nairobi and was en route to Mbaruk in Nakuru County. It went down in the lakeside town of Naivasha at approximately 5:14 p.m. local time (1414 GMT).

At the time, Naivasha Police Deputy Chief Charles Mwai suggested that poor visibility due to fog in the area might have been a contributing factor. Aviation experts have been called to the scene to conduct an investigation.

Headline

UK Police Arrest Asylum Seeker Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed

Published

4 days ago

October 26, 2025

Editor

The UK police on Sunday arrested an Ethiopian asylum seeker and convicted sex offender, whose crimes had sparked anti-immigration protests, after he was accidentally released from prison in an embarrassing blunder by British authorities.

London’s Metropolitan Police said officers arrested Hadush Kebatu in the north of the capital on Sunday morning, nearly 48 hours after he was mistakenly freed around 30 miles (48 kilometres) away.

Kebatu, 38, had served the first month of a one-year sentence for sexually assaulting a teenage girl and a woman, but was reportedly due to be deported when the Prison Service error occurred on Friday.

His high-profile case earlier this year in Epping, northeast of London, sparked demonstrations in various English towns and cities where asylum seekers were believed to be housed, as well as counter-protests.

Commander James Conway, who oversaw the manhunt for him, said “information from the public” led officers to the Finsbury Park neighbourhood of London, where he was found.

“He was detained by police but will be returned to the custody of the Prison Service,” he added.

Kebatu is now expected to be deported.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Friday he was “appalled” by the “totally unacceptable” mistake that saw him freed rather than sent to an immigration detention centre.

The Telegraph newspaper said he was wrongly categorised for release on licence and handed a £76 ($101) discharge grant.

Police had appealed Saturday for Kebatu to turn himself in, after reports emerged that he had appeared confused and reluctant to leave the prison in Chelmsford, eastern England.

A delivery driver described seeing Kebatu return several times in a “very confused” state, only to be turned away by staff and directed to the railway station.

The driver told Sky News he saw Kebatu outside the jail, asking, “Where am I going? What am I doing?”

“He was starting to get upset, he was getting stressed,” the driver said.

The father of Kebatu’s anonymous teenage victim told the broadcaster that “the justice system has let us down.”

Police arrested the asylum seeker in July after he repeatedly tried to kiss a 14-year-old girl and touch her legs, and made sexually explicit comments to her.

He also sexually assaulted an adult woman, placing a hand on her thigh, when she intervened to stop his interactions with the girl.

He was staying at the time at Epping’s Bell Hotel, where scores of other asylum seekers have been accommodated, and which became the target of repeated protests.

AFP

Headline

Madagascar Revokes Ousted President’s Nationality

Published

4 days ago

October 26, 2025

Editor

Madagascar’s new government has stripped ousted president Andry Rajoelina of his Malagasy nationality in a decree published Friday, 10 days after he was removed in a military takeover.

According to AFP, the decree means that Rajoelina, who was impeached on October 14 after fleeing the island nation in the wake of weeks of protests, would not be able to contest future election.

The decree published in the official gazette said Rajoelina’s Malagasy nationality was revoked because he had acquired French nationality in 2014, local media reported, as photographs of the document were shared online.

French broadcaster RFI said it had confirmed the decree with the entourage of the new prime minister, Herintsalama Rajaonarivelo, who signed the order.

The decree cited laws stipulating that a Malagasy who voluntarily acquires a foreign nationality loses their Malagasy nationality.

Rajoelina’s French nationality caused a scandal when it was revealed ahead of the November 2023 elections, nearly 10 years after it was granted.

It triggered calls for him to be disqualified but he went on to win the contested polls, which were boycotted by opposition parties.

The 51-year-old politician fled Madagascar after army Colonel Michael Randrianirina said on October 11 his CAPSAT unit would refuse orders to put down the youth-led protest movement, which security forces had attempted to suppress with violence.

Rajoelina said later he was in hiding for his safety, but did not say where.

Randrianirina was sworn in as president on October 14, pledging elections within two years.