Fresh tension now looms in Ogoni land following the disbandment of surveillance contracts by the management of the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC). The SPDC has replaced the surveillance contractors of what it calls Ogoni Cluster Development Board.
The said Shell Ogoni surveillance contractors are under the aegis of the Oil Field Landlord Contractors Association of Nigeria (OFCLA) staged a protest against the SPDC’s decision to do away with them.
According to them their activities have curbed illegal bunkering, oil thefts, sabotage and pipeline vandalization in the Ogoni land.
They declared that if Shell refuses to rescind on its decision it might cause crisis in the Ogoniland.
Speaking at a press briefing in Port Harcourt on Monday, the chairman of OFLCA, Pastor (Dr.) James Bebe recalled how Shell has caused pains in the Ogoni land in year 1993, lamenting that several years after, “the pains are still in the minds of the Ogonis’.
Pastor Bebe disclosed that his association has formally complained the matter to the Chairman Rivers State Council of Chiefs and Traditional Rulers, HRM King G.N.K Gininwa Gbenemene Tai Kingdom and the political class in the Ogoni.
He condemned Shell for short changing the payment of labours, adding that, “SPDC pays N3000 per labour, but our case is different in Ogoniland. They pay us N800”. According to Pastor Bebe when a meeting was summoned by one Mr. Wenike Princewill and Mr. Jack, the issues of the underpayment was not discussed.
He appealed to President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi to intervene to save the area from fresh crisis.
In their separate speeches, King Giniwa, Gbenemene Tai Kingdom and HRM Sir. Dr. Samuel O. Ejire Meh-Eleme X, Eleme Kingdom called on SPDC not to do anything that would cause further crisis in Ogoni land. They said that any attempt to sideline the Ogoni surveillance contractors, crisis might erupt in the area. ###
