Iruoma Okpalaebubu
Ogale Community in Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State, staged a protest on Thursday, demanding for environmental justice for years of oil pollution in the land.
Ogale is one of the communities in Rivers, Niger Delta region that has suffered series of oil spills in recent years.
Omable African News observed that the community people in their thousands barricaded the manifold of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) in the community for repolluting the land despite the ongoing cleanup by the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP).
The people on a peaceful protest at the front of the facility of the oil multinational firm were sighted in a mourning black attire, with their various placards lamenting years of environmental damages in the community.
They told Omable African News that their action was in solidarity with the ongoing suit before a UK High Court filed by Ogale and Bille communinites against Shell.
About ten years ago residents from the Bille and Ogale communities in Rivers approached the UK High Court, where they claimed that their livelihoods had been destroyed and homes damaged by hundreds of oil spills allegedly caused by Shell.
The pollution caused widespread devastation to the local environment, killing fish and plant life, leaving thousands of people without access to clean drinking water.
The communities brought their claims in the UK courts however Shell allegedly delayed the case arguing it had no legal responsibility for any of the pollution. The delay has had a devastating effect on people’s lives.
After years of filing the suit, the matter came up for hearing on Thursday, February 13, 2025. While community representatives and other rights group stormed the London court to witness the matter, the Ogale people at home decided to embark on the demonstration in support of the ongoing suit.
An environmentalist and indigene of Ogoni, Mr Celestine Akpobari, who also spoke with journalists during the protest, explained that 13,000 farmers from the affected communinites filed the suit against Shell in London.
Akpobari who was at the venue of the protest in solidarity with Community, alongside other human rights activists, said Ogale people are demanding that Shell should pay adequate compensation for loss of livelihoods, for damages caused by the spillages.
He stressed that “Benzene, a cancer causing substance is in their water. The people are suffering from various health challenges because of the polluted environment. They are here to say enough is enough, that they have suffered so much, that justice should be served”.
According to him “As you are aware, on January 2, 2025, there was a major spill from this manifold belonging to Shell. Incidentally, it is the first time they were accepting that the fold was their own because they were flushing the oil from the sever pit and that overflow took over the whole community. Till today, people have not recovered from effects.
“Ogale people are saying enough is enough, they locked up their shops, nobody went to the farm, they all gathered here in solidarity with their king.”
Noting the challenges faced by the community people over the environmental degradation, Akpobari urged the federal government to declare a State of Emergency in Ogale.
“Government should come and relocate people that are here, clean up their land, restore natural habitats here, return them back, the people are dying. The money they are spending in Abuja is blood money. People are dying for the money that the are enjoying, they are buying houses and private jets.
People are dying here, you see somebody in the morning, in the afternoon the person is dead because of bad water, bad air, bad food, etc”, he added.
Secretary and Legal Adviser for Ogale Council of Chiefs and Elders, Johnson Ngochindo who spoke with journalists during the protest, said because the community did not have confidence in the Nigerian court and government, reason the matter was filed in UK High Court where he said they would obtain justice.
Ngochindo said “We are here to register our dissatisfaction, our anger and displeasure over the activities of Shell. We are here to support our king who is at the UK because of the ongoing case against Shell.
“We have been so devastated, we have been short-changed, maligned by Shell. We are peaceful community, we are a people who has so blessed with natural resources, but it has turned to a curse in our land. And because we see that we cannot achieve justice in Nigeria, no court in Nigeria can give us justice, that is why we headed for the UK.”
The Ogale legal advised who also disclosed that the paramount ruler of the community was in court as a party to witness the trial, expressed “We are asking that the court in London should give us justice. We are short of trust where Nigerian government is because they are collaborators. Shell and Nigerian government are collaborating to short-change the oil bearing communinites, that is why we are seeking help from the international court. The men, women, youths are dying in their numbers from the environmental pollution”.
On his part, the youth president of Ogale, Noble Obari Worlu, lamented that the community has suffered series of oil spills in recent years, regretting that despite they host oil multinationals, non has considered proffering solution to their ill health resulting from the pollution.
Worlu said “We have suffered enough in the hands of Shell that is why you can see the mammoth crowd here today. Nobody went to farm, nobody went to the market, all shops are closed, everybody in the community is here today as a sign of solidarity to speak to the whole world that Ogale people have suffered a lot, we are dying of strange illnesses, we are suffering spillage on monthly basis.
The last one (oil spill) was just last week in this same facility that we are standing. We are suffering from different kinds of illnesses we don’t know. When will the spillage stop, when will Ogale people get justice, when will Ogale people get clean water to drink, because Shell has contaminated our ground water”, he queried.
The youth president said the community is “demanding that compensation should be paid to Ogale people. There should be adequate health audit for Ogale people to ascertain the level of damage done to our system and how medical treatment can be enforced. They should give us clean water”.
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