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

Russian Strikes Kill Five In Ukraine, Cause Power Outages

Published

19 hours ago

October 5, 2025

Editor

Russian strikes Sunday on Ukraine killed five people and badly damaged energy infrastructure, temporarily severing power supplies to tens of thousands and prompting neighbouring Poland put ground defence on high alert.

Russia has stepped up strikes on energy networks, increasing fears Moscow would resume its widespread campaign of attacks on power facilities, which have plunged millions into darkness in past winters.

Russian forces fired 496 drones and 53 missiles at Ukraine, the majority of which were shot down, according to the Ukrainian air force.

“Sadly, five people were killed. My sincere condolences to everyone who lost loved ones to this terror,” Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Strikes killed four people near Lviv, which lies in western Ukraine and is hundreds of kilometers from the front line, and has been largely spared the attacks that have hit cities further east.

“Near Lviv, an entire family of four was killed in their home, including a teenage girl,” Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said.

Emergency services released photos showing firefighters battling flames in a destroyed building, and helping elderly residents to safety.
Attacks also killed one person in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia and wounded people near the eastern front, local authorities said.
“Russians once again targeted our infrastructure -– everything that ensures normal life for our people,” Zelensky said.

The strikes cut power to over 110,000 subscribers across several regions, Ukraine’s emergency services said, with the hardest hit being Zaporizhzhia.

– ‘Gas, heat and light’ –
Overnight, more than 73,000 people in Zaporizhzhia were left without electricity, regional head Ivan Fedorov said, though power had been partially restored by the afternoon.

Ukraine’s state-run gas company Naftogaz network also reported damage to its network.
“These maniacal terrorist strikes are aimed solely at one thing — depriving Ukrainians of gas, heat, and light,” Naftogaz CEO Sergii Koretskyi said in a statement.

The Russian army said it launched an attack “against enterprises of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine and gas and energy infrastructure facilities that ensured their operation.”

Russian attacks have also rattled Ukraine’s European allies after a spate of alleged Russian airspace violations into Europe.

NATO boosted its defences along its eastern borders throughout the month as it accused Moscow of testing the alliance’s air defences with drone incursions into several members and by flying military jets in Estonian airspace.

Overnight Poland’s armed forces said on X that they had mobilised planes and put ground defences on high alert to secure the country’s airspace, especially in areas close to Ukraine.

Ukraine also said Russia was intensifying a campaign of air strikes on its railway network in an attempt to isolate frontline communities ahead of winter.

Russia launched drones at two passenger trains in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region on Saturday, killing one person and wounding dozens, according to Ukrainian officials.

Headline

Badenoch Unveils Strict UK Immigration Plan, Targets 150,000 Yearly Deportations

Published

19 hours ago

October 5, 2025

Editor

Kemi Badenoch, leader of the United Kingdom’s Conservative Party, has unveiled an aggressive immigration reform plan aimed at detaining and deporting 150,000 illegal migrants annually, in what she described as the “toughest reforms Britain has ever seen” in border policy. The announcement was made in a video message posted on her X account on Sunday.

The plan, dubbed the Radical Borders Plan, envisages the establishment of a new Removals Force modelled after the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which would replace the current Home Office Immigration Enforcement unit. According to Badenoch, the Removals Force will have a mandate to remove all illegal entrants, foreign criminals, and undocumented migrants, while also monitoring illegal work. She stated, “My message is clear: if you’re here illegally, you will be detained and deported.”

Badenoch sharply criticised previous administrations, accusing both Conservative and Labour governments of failing to manage the migration crisis effectively. “Successive governments have failed on immigration. Labour promised to smash the gangs. Instead, in just a year, they delivered record small boat crossings, over 50,000 illegal arrivals, 32,000 people in asylum hotels, billions wasted. It’s pure weakness. Britain needs a serious, credible plan and the backbone to deliver it,” she said.

The proposed plan includes several controversial measures. Asylum claims from illegal entrants would be banned, the Human Rights Act repealed, and the United Kingdom withdrawn from the European Convention on Human Rights. Badenoch added that all new illegal arrivals would be deported within a week, with legal obstacles to mass removals removed and visa sanctions imposed on countries that refuse to repatriate their citizens. She also pledged to “shut down the asylum hotel racket,” which she said would save taxpayers billions and restore public confidence in the UK’s border controls.

The Removals Force, if approved, will operate with an annual budget of £1.6 billion, double that of the current Immigration Enforcement unit, funded by savings from the closure of asylum hotels and other measures within the asylum system. The force will have sweeping powers, including the use of facial recognition technology without prior warning, and will integrate closely with the police. Priority for removals will include new illegal entrants, foreign criminals, failed asylum seekers, visa over-stayers, and others identified as residing in the UK illegally.

In an interview on BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Badenoch faced criticism for her refusal to specify the destinations to which deported migrants would be sent. She responded, “I’m tired of all of these irrelevant questions about where they should go. They will go back to where they should be or another country, but they should not be here.” When pressed further, she added, “They will go back to where they came from.”

According to the Conservative Party document detailing the plan, the proposed measures are intended to increase removals from the current 34,000 per year to approximately 150,000, marking a five-fold increase in enforcement activity. The party argues that the reforms are necessary to address what it describes as uncontrolled migration and to strengthen public trust in the country’s border system.

Badenoch’s announcement has intensified the ongoing debate in the UK over immigration policy, balancing border security with human rights considerations. Critics have expressed concern over the repeal of the Human Rights Act and the use of facial recognition technology without oversight, while supporters have welcomed the proposed measures as a decisive step in tackling illegal immigration.

The Radical Borders Plan is expected to be submitted for parliamentary consideration in the coming months, with its implementation contingent on legislative approval and coordination with existing law enforcement structures.

Headline

Trump Threatens To Unleash ‘Hell’ On Hamas

Published

2 days ago

October 4, 2025

Editor

US President Donald Trump has given Hamas until 2200 GMT on Sunday to accept his 20-point plan for peace in Gaza, warning the Palestinian militant group faced “all hell” if it did not agree to the terms.

The US leader set the deadline — which would fall at 1:00 a.m. Monday in Gaza — after an official for the Islamist movement told AFP earlier on Friday that the group still needed time to study the proposal to end nearly two years of devastating war in the Palestinian territory.

“If this LAST CHANCE agreement is not reached, all HELL, like no one has ever seen before, will break out against Hamas,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.

The proposal, backed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calls for a ceasefire, the release of hostages within 72 hours, Hamas’s disarmament and a gradual Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

That would be followed by a post-war transitional authority headed by Trump himself.

“Hamas is still continuing consultations regarding Trump’s plan… and has informed mediators that the consultations are ongoing and need some time,” the official said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly on the matter.

On Tuesday, Trump gave Hamas “three or four days” to accept his plan, which has been welcomed by world powers, including Arab and Muslim nations.

Mohammad Nazzal, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, said in a statement Friday that the “plan has points of concern, and we will announce our position on it soon.”

As Hamas mulled Trump’s peace plan this week, a Palestinian source close to the group’s leadership told AFP on Wednesday that the Islamist movement wanted to amend some clauses, including the one on disarmament.

Hamas leaders also want “international guarantees” for a full Israeli withdrawal and that no assassination attempts would be made inside or outside Gaza, the source added.

Another source familiar with the negotiations told AFP that the group was split over Trump’s plan.

Structurally, the group’s leadership is divided between officials based in the Gaza Strip and those abroad, particularly in Qatar.

Much of Hamas’s leadership has also been wiped out in Israeli attacks throughout the war.

The source told AFP that “the first (opinion) supports unconditional approval, as the priority is a ceasefire under Trump’s guarantees, with mediators ensuring Israel implements the plan”.

“The second has serious reservations regarding key clauses… They favour conditional approval with clarifications reflecting Hamas’s and the resistance factions’ demands,” the source added.

Hugh Lovatt, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said “ultimately it’s not just about convincing Hamas leadership in Doha, but also the leadership in Gaza, as well as Hamas members and fighters in Gaza.”

“Additionally, Hamas must then be able to convince other factions in Gaza,” he added.

The war was triggered by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 66,288 Palestinians, according to health ministry figures in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable.

Their data does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but indicates that more than half of the dead are women and children.