The controversy surrounding the re-opening of facilities of OML 25 in Rivers State continues to rage as the host communities saturday denied agreeing to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Shell Petroleum Development Company to return to site.
“It is most unfortunate that a state government that is supposed to concern itself with good governance would be this desperate to champion an illegal course to forcefully re-open an oil platform that was peacefully shutdown based on the legitimate grievances of the Host Communities,” the communities said.
“It is worrisome that Shell and the Rivers State Government who both sent representatives to our meeting with the NNPC in Abuja on the 22nd of August 2017 to resolve the dispute, decided to meet with the wrong people at the Government House in Port-Harcourt to resolve a matter that is already being handled by the federal government.”
“Let it be also known that the Oko Royal House of Kula is the bona fide owner of Belema Community that gave the acreage to Shell to build the oil facility.
Shell has be operating in our communities decades, yet there's nothing to show for it. They plunder the land, polute the environment and instigate violence whilst taking the resources of the people away. Their divide and rule strategy has failed, the people are wiser..