Oil Well: Two Killed as Violence Hits Delta Community

 

Two persons have reportedly lost their lives in Aboh, headquarters of Ndokwa East Local Government Area of Delta State, following the violence that resulted from the disagreements on the sharing formula for expected benefits from the proposed exploration of crude oil from an existing oil well in the community by the Nigeria Petroleum Development Company (NPDC).

It was gathered that the community's leadership had in preparation for future engagements, claims and entitlements, held series of meetings and came up with a template to share expected accruals from oil exploitation in the community.

However, the different potentially benefiting parties could not agree on what percentage of benefits would go to “the larger kingdom and the immediate host family.”

An indigene of the community, Mr. Tony Osborg, said the host family "rejected the proposal and insisted that they were entitled to keeping 60 percent as was the precedent on a recent negotiation during the Nextoil/NNPC OB3 pipeline project."

He noted that while the community was yet to resolve the disagreement with the community, “another family related to the immediate hosts came up with their own grievance, insisting that they should be considered as part of the host family.

"While the Community Development Committee (CDC), the Palace and Chiefs in Council had insisted that no further activity be carried out by the exploration company until all disagreements are resolved, some youths went behind to invite the company to commence activities, insisting that all grievances had been resolved.

"During the attempted entry into the family land which hosts the wellhead by the enumerators working for NPDC, fight broke out between the two families. Gun and machetes were freely used, consequently, two lives were lost.

"Despite efforts by the elite of the community to invite the military to forestall further attacks and counter attacks, the community has remained vulnerable with no feasible security presence."

Chairman of the CDC and former Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, Dr. Olise Imegwu, however, said he learned of the death of one person, blaming the crisis on attempts by the host family to create their own community within the Aboh community, adding that the company had signed a global Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the kingdom.

According to him, "There is only one Aboh kingdom, and now the family is saying that before the company can commence operation in their land, it most come directly to them. On three occasions that the company came to the land, the family drove them away."

However, when contacted, the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Adeleke Adeyinka, while confirming that police were monitoring the crisis over the oil exploration in Aboh, said he was unaware of any loss of lives in the crisis.