…..Gives RCC 14 days legal notice to pay compensation to every person who died on East-West Road Eleme
A group in Ogoniland under the aegis of the Ogoni Liberation Initiative (OLI) says it has filed a court injunction against NNPCL to restrain its operations on OML 11, over fraudulent activities which do not protect the interest of the Ogoni people.
President of the group, Dr. Douglas Fabeke, disclosed this during a town hall meeting with Ogoni indigenes at Bori, in the Khana local government area of Rivers State.
He said his lawyer D.A Awosika SAN had instituted a suit at the Abuja Federal High Court (Suit No FHC/ABU/CS/1007/2018), amended on 19 July 2023, filed and paid on 3rd August 2023, is asking the Court to stop the NNPCL from carrying out any form of oil exploration in Ogoniland until the right thing is done.
Fabeke explained they approached the court following the out-of-court settlement that NNPCL said it has concluded negotiations with the Rivers State Government on OML 11 in Ogoniland, noting Ogoni people whose communities have suffered the great impact of oil pollution did not benefit anything or get compensated from the negotiation.
“The massive fraud in the clean up of Ogoni is alarming, imagine the Chairman of the BOT saying they have received three hundred and sixty million dollars and that he is happy for what has been done. If I may ask what has been done? Am yet to reply to him on that.
“Can he justify in his conscience that he has used well the three hundred and sixty million dollars he said they received? The figure I got from my investigation report is three hundred and sixty-six million dollars.
“I have visited every community that was heavily polluted and saw what people are going through, so if you say you have given Ogoni people water, where is the water? How many communities are drinking the water, we are not happy with what is going on.
“Some people are enriching themselves with this money, money has been approved nineteen billion, two hundred billion, five hundred billion, and so on for Ogoniland. Where are the money going to or is Ogoni people only going to be hearing billion? Billion and when you come to Bori you do not see a light supply.
“We would not allow these frauds to continue, we have formed a committee to liaise with the stakeholders. We have already put a court injunction on OML 11, we filed a case against NNPC because they said they have settled with Rivers State government out of court to still continue business in Ogoni, and the Ogoni people are not aware.
“Are we not supposed to be part of the negotiation because Ogoni’s name is mentioned in the document of the court settlement, you do not force people on us, not in this generation. We are all business people, we can also negotiate with our people and do business with our people.
“We have over seventy-seven companies that have been awarded contracts some of those contracts are fake and some of the communities are just communities they carve a name and it started existing”.
He however revealed projects payment approved in Ogoniland as follows:
“On 22 May 2021, the sum of six billion, four hundred million nairas was approved and released for the water project. Who is the contractor? Where is the designed water project and how can we access it?
“On 6 December 2022, the sum of four hundred and forty-nine million was approved and released for environmental restoration consultation. Who is the contractor and what is he consulting?
“On the 21st December 2022, the sum of ninety-five billion, nine hundred million nairas was approved and released for the remediation project. Who is the contractor?
“On 22 December 2023, the sum of one hundred and twenty-three billion, four hundred million nairas was approved and released for the electrification and remediation work in Ogoniland. The former minister of the environment shall explain as time progresses and the contractors involved.
“On 19 January 2023, the sum of one billion, four hundred million nairas was approved and released for Ogoni project vehicles. Where are the vehicles and projects?
“On 29 March 2023, the sum of forty-one billion naira was approved and released for the construction of the center of excellence and hospital in Ogoni. The project has been flagged off, yet nothing is going on”.
The Leader of the group further said they have given Reynolds Construction Company (RCC) 14 days’ legal notice to commence construction work on the fifteen (15) kilometer dilapidated Eleme section of the East-West Road which they abandoned even as funds were released to them.
He maintained that RCC will pay up compensation to every person who has died on East-West Road Eleme, for their negligence of the road.
He also noted that a compiled list of those who died on the road starting from November 24, 2022, till date will be sent to the National Assembly in the coming weeks, as it will ensure RCC pays all compensation.
“We are taking legal action because RCC is playing politics on the road each time we talk about the road RCC will go there with equipment in two weeks’ time they disappear. I went there to do a press the following week they were there after one week they disappeared, I gave a 14 days ultimatum the next week they were there after the following week they disappeared.
“They are playing politics with what we do not know, we are not going to take it likely because our people have died out of negligence on that road, we are going to court against them to take some actions they are playing with us too much. They will pay compensation to every life that has been lost on that road from November 2022 till date”.
