Metro

GMoU: Protest As Bayelsa Oil Communities Lay Siege To Agip

Published

3 years ago

November 2, 2021

Editor

Protesting residents of Isoko- speaking communities in Sagbama Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, have vowed to shut down the Samabiri/Buseni cluster location housing nine oil wells and operated by the Nigerian Agip Oil Company, NAOC, in their area.

The villagers alleged that the multinational company refused to keep to the Global Memorandum of Understanding, GMoU, reached with its host communities.

Protesters, including men, women, and youths of Osekwenike, Abuetor, and Osifo communities barricaded the access road leading to the Agip-owned facility and disrupted operations to press home their demands.

Steered by the leaders of the three communities, they carried placards which bore different inscriptions such as: “Agip give us our link road,” “Agip obey the directive of the deputy governor on the surveillance matter,” “We are tired of staying in darkness in our communities, “Agip employ our youths” among others.

Presidents-general of the three communities, Mr. Lovely Agwor (Abuetor), Mr. Anthony Okorie (Osekwenike) and Mr. Benjamin Aghoghovia (Osifo), in a joint statement, noted that they decided to embark on a peaceful protest after all efforts to reach Agip for dialogue failed.

The community leaders noted that they had written several letters seeking audience with the oil giant through the Manager, Stakeholders Management and Community Development Division, to address their demands but Agip had continued to rebuff the communities’ efforts to have a round table discourse on the way forward.

They recalled that in separate letters dated June 23, 2021 and October 14, 2021, addressed to the General Manager, District, Nigeria Agip Oil Company through the Manager, Stakeholders Management and Community Development Division, the communities forewarned about its plan to shut down the oil facility if Agip refused to listen to them.

“Some of our demands include that Agip should assign the construction of our link road which shall connect the three communities in line with our GMoU for 2001/2006 to the recommended contractor. No implementation, no production.

“To mobilize the contractor to site for the completion of our gas turbine project in line with our MoU 2001/2006. To assign the surveillance contract to a trusted indigenous contractor in Bayelsa State or to our recommended contractor and payment of two months’ salary arrears to our community. No implementation, no production.

“To respect our GMoU which comprises nine communities namely: Osekwenike, Abuetor, Osifo, Agbere, Odoni, Kaiama, Isoni Ossiama and Ogbunugbene,” they said.

The aggrieved communities are also demanding a monthly supply of 45,000 liters of diesel to the communities which Agip stopped over six months ago, for no just cause thereby subjecting them to acute darkness, while the multinational company and its staff enjoy uninterrupted electricity at the cluster location housing nine oil wells producing thousands of barrels of crude oil daily.

They used the medium to call on President Muhammadu Buhari, the Governor of Bayelsa State, Senator Douye Diri and the relevant authorities to prevail on Agip to do the needful, vowing not to vacate the oil site if their demands are not met.

Reacting, an official of NAOC, who refused to be named, simply said the matter and the demands will be resolved by the appropriate authority.

(VANGUARD)

Metro

Okuama/Okoloba Impasse: Women Protest In Black Attire, Raise Issues [PHOTOS]

Published

6 hours ago

May 18, 2024

Editor

The protesting women of Okoloba community

Protesters who are majorly women from Okoloba community, Delta State, on Saturday, May 18, 2024, took to the street to protest what they called the return of armed youths of Okuama in Ughelli South Local Government Area of the state.

INFO DAILY reports that Okoloba community in Bomadi Local Government Area and Okuama community in Ughelli South Local Government Area, all in Delta State have been at loggerhead over land dispute and others.

The protesting Okoloba women in black attire staged the peaceful protest along the coastal fringe of Koloba community, chanting against violence and bloodbath.

The placard carrying women, led by the chairlady of Okoloba Community, Mrs Timipakebi Goodwin, and secretary, Mrs Mary Koibi, alleged that the armed youths of Okuama were threatening the peace of the riverine area.

Some of the protesting Women

Some inscriptions on the placards read: ‘We say no to violence’; ‘enough of the killings on our land;’ ‘armed Okuama youths returning in a commando style;’ ‘we say no to the return of armed youths of Okuama;’ ‘resettle Okuama people among their Ewu brothers in Ughelli South LGA;’ ‘we mourn the killing of the 17 soldiers,’ among others.’

Reading a letter to newsmen, a copy of each she said was submitted to the police, DSS, NSCDC, JTF as well as the acting chairman of Bomadi Local local Government Council, Mrs Goodwin noted that the latest killing by the youths of Okuama showed that they could kill human beings at the slightest provocation.

The letter which contained an S.O.S. to the Federal Government, further reads: “First, we the women of Okoloba Community sympathize with the killing of 17 soldiers and officers of the Nigerian army on peace and rescue mission to Okuama, following the kidnap of our son. We sincerely mourn their untimely death and pray for the repose of their souls. We also pray for their families.

The protesting women

“However, less than 24 hours after the exit of the troops from Okuama, a fresh crisis erupted with another neighbouring community, culminating in the killing of one person while three other persons were seriously injured. The person who was killed and those sustaining machete wounds were alleged to have gone there to loot.

“The latest killing showed that the people of Okuama can kill a human at the slightest provocation; the sanctity of human life means nothing to them. It also shows that neighbouring Ijaw communities like Okoloba are not safe.

“So, resetting the people of Okuama in their present location, which is in-between communities in Bomadi Local Government Area, is an attempt to encourage further communal clashes and bloodbaths.

“Just last week, youths of Okuama Community came out of the Mein-toruabubor creek, which leads to Ewu, on three speedboats and all of them on camouflage. They shot sporadically in the air before proceeding to OKuama. They moved to and fro the creek three times, and at every time they shot their guns in the air at the entrance of the creek.

“We are calling on the federal government to come to our aid, and the panacea to these incessant clashes and killings is for the government to relocate Okuama to Ewu clan in Ughelli South Local Government Area, where they truly and rightly belong.

“Resettling them among their own people in Ewu clan of Urhobo land will foster mutual trust among themselves as they are of the same ancestry and speak the same dialect”.

Metro

JUST IN: Truck Rams Into BRT On Lagos-Ibadan Expressway

Published

10 hours ago

May 18, 2024

Editor

A truck has rammed into a Lagos State BRT bus at Ibafo bus-stop along the Lagos Ibadan Expressway.

The PUNCH correspondent who went to the scene gathered that the accident occurred around some minutes to 6am on Saturday.

Officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps and Police on response call at the accident scene insisted that only their Public Relations Officers were authorised to speak.

However, unconfirmed reports from onlookers noted that several people on the BRT bus were injured.

Onlookers accounts noted that the BRT was parked loading its passengers at the bus stop before the truck loaded with cows heading to Lagos rammed into it, taking it off the road to destroy shops and kiosks by the roadside.

The cow truck had been towed a little away from the scene so as not to hinder traffic.

Details later

Metro

Court Jails Social Media Influencer For Celebrity Scam

Published

19 hours ago

May 18, 2024

Editor

A Federal High Court in Ikoyi, has sentenced Aluko Tunmise to one year in prison for his involvement in a celebrity scam.

Tunmise was prosecuted by the Lagos Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a cybercrime-related charge.

This was disclosed in a post on X by EFCC on Friday, May 17.

The post reads: “Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Wednesday, May 15, 2024, convicted and sentenced one Aluko Tunmise, a self-acclaimed social media influencer and model, to one year imprisonment for celebrity scam.

He was arraigned by the Lagos Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on a one-count charge bordering on cybercrimes.”

“One of the counts reads: “That you, ALUKO TUNMISE JUWONLO (A.K.A. KEANU REEVES), sometime between January and March, 2024 in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, directly made a false statement, wherein you held yourself out as a white man by name “KEANU REEVES” on your Telegram Account, knowing same to be false and with intent that the representation is relied upon for the purpose of procuring the issuance of financial instrument to yourself and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 22(3) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention etc) Act, 2015′.

He pleaded ‘guilty’ to the charge when it was read to him.

Following his guilty plea, prosecution counsel, C.C.Okezie, sought to present an operative of the EFCC, Vincent Sunday Kwambuge, to review the facts of the matter.

Kwanbuge told the court that the defendant was arrested sometime in March, 2024 at Lekki County Estate, Lagos, following credible intelligence received by the Commission on the activities of some internet fraudsters operating in the area.”