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N45.7bn Court Judgement: Shell Accused Of Ripping Off EJAMA-Ebubu Community
Published
4 years agoon
By
Editor
Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has described as dubious the recent “consent judgement” passed by the federal high court in which the indebtedness of Shell was drastically reviewed downwards to N45.7 billion, adding that it is an attempt to rip-off of the community by Shell.
ERA/FoEN added that it is an orchestratration strategy by Shell to take communities through long harrowing legal obstacles to deny them justice.
Executive Director of ERA/FoEN, Dr. Godwin Uyi 0jo, while disclosing this in a statement made available to INFO DAILY shortly after the general meeting of the organiztion held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, lamented that it took Shell good 30 years before the company finally bow to the will of the people and the dictates of justice.
READ ALSO: N81.9bn Compensation: ERA/FoEN Wants ExxonMobil To Obey Court Judgement
According to him, it is only when Shell is cornered as in the present case that they turn around and make an offer for full and final settlement of all claims by communities without admitting any wrongdoing.
While stating that ERA/FoEN welcomed the judgement and Shell readiness to compensate the comminity (Ejama-Ebubu in Eleme local Government Area of Rivers State) over $110 million or N45.7 billion naira as full and final settlement for an oil spill that occurred in the area, the Executive Director applauded the people of Ejama-Ebubu community for their steadfastness in the pursuit of justice, remediation and restoration of their destroyed environment as well as the well-deserved compensation for the losses they have suffered.
Dr. Ojo who recalled how Shell’s facilities, in 1970, polluted the community’s environment and thereby causing oil spill, said Shell neither clean, restore, nor compensated the community for the losses they had suffered as a result of the spill until now.
“But in 1991, the community being dissatisfied with the failure of Shell to remediate and restore their environment filed a case before the Nigeria’s Federal High Court of justice.
“Further to this legal action, in 2010 the federal high court awarded compensation to the community in the sum of N17 billion naira but Shell in its usual intransigence vigorously objected to paying the compensation awarded by the court and proceeded to drag out the case.
“In November 2020 the supreme court rejected Shell’s last ditch bid to set aside the 2010 compensation award. This judgement debt of N17 billion, had after 11 years of Shell’s intransigence ballooned to N180 billion,” he said.
He continues, “This same scenario played out in the case of Saro-Wiwa and other vs Shell in New York in 2009, Bodo vs Shell at the industrial court in London 2016. Shell’s refusal to accept responsibility implies that the company is yet to learn any lesson from their wanton destruction of the environment and therefore unwilling to make changes to their clean-up operations from their frequent oil spills and destruction of livelihoods.”
On his part in the statement, Mike Karikpo, Director of Programs, ERA/FoEN, described the judgement as “bitter-sweet victory as the agreed compensation payout by Shell is merely a fraction of what the company owes the Ejama-Ebubu community.
“Shell has gotten away again with shortchanging the people of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria,” he stated.
They, therefore, called on communities in the Niger Delta region impacted by “reckless oil extraction” to demand full accountability from every oil company.
READ ALSO: Proposed Sales Of Shell’s Assets:Environment Rights Organistion Wants Govt, CSOs Monitor Process
ERA/FoEN also emphasised the need to clean oil impacted ecosystems across the country as a way of restoring and compensating communities and individuals whose livelihoods were impacted even as the short-lived age of oil comes to an end.
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Tension As Unknown Gunmen Kill Police Informant In Imo Community
Published
1 month agoon
April 25, 2025By
Editor
By Qosim Sulaiman
Palpable tension engulfed the residents of Nkwogwu community, Aboh Mbaise Local Government Area of Imo State following the killing of an elderly man, Pa Albert Nwanchukwu, believed to be a police informant.
The assailants, numbering about eight, who reportedly stormed the home of the late Nwanchukwu at about 10pm on Tuesday, 22 April, 2025, were said to have met him where he was relaxing in his compound and immediately opened fire on him.
According to our source who pleaded anonymity, before his assassination, the late Nwanchukwu, had reportedly went to a police station in the locality to inform them of the activities of the gunmen, just as he pleaded to the police to get them arrested.
Our source disclosed that the late Nwanchukwu never knew that some policemen are accomplished in the act, adding that the policemen no doubt informed the gunmen who in anger came and killed him.
READ ALSO: Again Unknown Gunmen Kill One In Imo, Set Govt Vehicle Ablaze
Our source narrated: “They were about eight in number. They came with different weapons – guns, machetes. They were all masked except their leader.
“It was late but the floodlight from the streetlight was bright. They drove dangerously and went straight to Mr Albert Uwandu Nwachukwu house. The man was relaxing in the front of his house. Immediately they saw him, they opened fire,” he died on the spot”, an eyewitness who saw the entire scene from the balcony of his house recounts.
Our source added: “Further investigations proved that the spy had informed this notorious gang of late Pa Nwachukwu’s visit to the police, thereby leading to the attack on his household.”
After killing the man, the gang reportedly went inside the house searching for other family members.
READ ALSO: One Killed As Unknown Gunmen Attack Hotel, Set Vehicles Ablaze In Ebonyi
While it was evident that the gang intended to eviscerate the entire members of the family, three of his children – Victor Onyedikachi Nwachukwu, Promise Rita Nwachukwu Yakubu and Blessing Nzebechi Nwachukwu escaped.
“I saw the three of them. They ran through the back door. Since that time, we have not seen them again”, the same eye-witness disclosed to our correspondent.
This particular incident has thrown the entire community and Aboh Mbaise Local Government in general, into mourning.
While some questioned the safety of police informants, other believed the incident shows the rot in the police force of the country.
Expressing his disappointment in the police, the chairman of Aboh Mabise LGA; Honourable Barrister Iheukwumere Henry Alaribe vowed a major crackdown on the unknown gunmen.
The Commissioner of Police, Imo State Command, CP Aboki Danjuma promised a total clampdown and return of sanity to the community.
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Protect Oil Palm Host Communities; Address Spate Of Kidnapping, Violence, Govt Told
Published
3 months agoon
February 26, 2025By
Editor
By Joseph Ebi Kanjo
A non-profit organization – African Law Foundation (AFRILAW), has appealed to the government at levels to ensure the protection of oil palm host communities and address the spate of kidnapping and violence in such areas.
AFRILAW further urged the governments to ensure that communities’ rights and privileges are respected in land deals with oil palm companies to avoid human rights violations.
Okereke Chinwike Esq,
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, AFRILAW, made the appeal in Benin on Tuesday at the Public Presentation and launching of ‘The Community-based Report on Human Rights Violations in the Palm Oil Supply Chain in Edo State.’
INFO DAILY reports that the event is part of AFRILAW activities under the “Promoting Human Rights in Palm Oil Supply Chain in Nigeria Project,” being implemented by AFRILAW in partnership with Zero Tolerance Initiative (ZTI) and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) with funding support from True Cost Initiative (TCI) USA.
READ ALSO: SERAP To Court: Stop CBN From ‘Implementing ‘Unlawful, Unjust ATM Fee Hike’
According to the AFRILAW founder, addressing companies’ human rights violations from their operations in host communities require evidence-based research, hence the research and report presentation.
“The Report we are presenting today documents evidence of community rights violations by major oil palm companies operating in the state. The research is informed by the increasing spate of violence and community protests against the operations of oil palm companies operating in Edo state, and provides greater understanding of the prevailing cases of community and human rights violations and nature of conflicts,” he noted.
He, therefore, urged the government to
“put in place a mandatory binding CSR laws and guidelines for companies to ensure that community rights and privileges are protected.”
He further appealed to the government to “ensure effective implementation of the National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights and set forth clear expectations for business enterprises regarding the importance of respecting the rights of human rights defenders, indigenous people and communities in Nigeria.”
READ ALSO: Woman Who Accused Jay-Z, Diddy Of Rape Drops Lawsuit
On his part, Executive Secretary, National Human Rights Commission, Anthony Ojukwu (SAN), described the report as essential, stressing that beyond normal advocacy, research-based advocacy is more efficient and effective.
Represented by Mrs Mary Okoh, Deputy Director, Legal/Focal Point Business and Human Rights, NHRC, Ojukwu said beyond Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) organization should take seriously major issues of mainstreaming human rights into their operations.
“That means anyone who wants to set up a business must put into consideration the needs of the people and not what the organization or company needs. We have found out that this is where human rights violations start.
“Let them be part of the discussion and planning in the setting up of the business. Let them know what is at stake for them,” he said.
Goodwill messages were delivered by government agencies and ministries, while the presentation and launching also attracted security agencies including the Nigeria Police Force, the Nigerian Army, the Nigerian Customs Service, and the Nigeria Immigration Service among others.
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#EndBadGovernance: Police Manhunt Activists, Others, As Artist Cries Out For Help In Benin
Published
10 months agoon
August 15, 2024By
Editor
The Nigeria Police Force has launched a manhunt for suspected sponsors of the #EndBadGovernance in Nigeria protest that swept round the country last week.
Though police had arrested scores of such protesters across the country, many, especially vocal personalities and civil rights activists who have been criticising policies of the Tinubu administration in Nigeria have been penned down for arrest.
Also of interest to the police are those alleged to have massively produced and supplied Russian flags that were displayed during the protests, as they have vowed that none of the suspects would be spared.
It was gathered that undercover policemen are closing in on the social critics including one Osarenkhoe Destiny Oghosa, a vocal music artiste in Benin City.
READ ALSO: #EndSoldier Shoots 16-year-old #EndBadGovernance Protester Dead In Kaduna
This has raised fears and trepidation in that circle with many going underground for fear of being arrested by the police.
Oghosa is accused of masterminding an attempted jail break in the Benin metropolis similar to the End SARS protest in 2020, experience that resulted in the prison break and escape of prisoners and detainees alike.
Oghosa, in an interview with our correspondent, lamented that his music which focuses social justice, equality, societal ills among others in Nigeria, is now being as a crime.
He further lamented that despite several tactics to beat the security tab on him by agents of the government, he had faced persecution from invincible nocturnal groups.
READ ALSO: #EndBadGovernance: Protesters, Police Clash Averted In Rivers
Further lamenting how the government is hell bent in silencing voices speaking for the masses, Oghosa recalled how he was called at midnight to stop production of his song titled “OBI”, adding that he was seriously warned .
In a related development, Ahmed Bello, one of the suspect producers of the Russian flag hoist in some cities in Nigeria has been attested.
The Force Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, disclosed this in Abuja on Monday at the Strategic Communications Interagency Policy Committee joint press briefing.
He added that the police were on the trail of other suspects, especially the sponsors of the protest which led to the destruction of government properties in Kaduna and Kano States.
Adejobi said the suspects committed a treasonable felony, offence by waving a foreign country’s flag in Nigeria.
READ ALSO: BREAKING: Tinubu To Address Nigerians Sunday Amid #EndBadGovernance Protests
He said: “So, we need to set the record straight. It is important for us to know, so far so good we have been able to arrest some individuals who were engaging themselves in what I call a treasonable felony, while we are still going after their sponsors.
“To carry the flags of a foreign country in another country is a criminal offence. We have them arrested. Just this morning, we arrested one Ahmed Bello from Kano State fuor producing a large quantity of Russian flags given to young Nigerians to hoist for reasons best known to him.”
The police added that protesters in Benin City had made attempts to invade the DSS office in the state with the intention to free persons who in their opinion were being unjustly detained there-in forcing the law enforcement agencies to disperse them.
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