(By Paul Osuyi – ASABA)
The Umukwata community of Ukwuani local government area, Delta state, is divided over over plans by an oil company, Conodit Refinery Limited, to establish a refinery in their town.
A small minority of the community, led by one of its Lagos-based indigenes, are fiercely opposed to the establishment of the refinery, even as a majority of the people approve of the project.
A community source has that said a serious crisis that has the potential to snowball into a total breakdown of law and order is brewing, if the company decides to relocate the proposed refinery to another town.
Our sources tell us that two prominent indigenes of the community, identified as Ekeli and Osuyali, have been arrested and taken to Lagos due to their support for the project. It is also claimed that the Lagos-based indigene opposed to the project has threatened anyone opposing him on the matter.
Reacting to the development, the company’s Community Liaison Manager, Mr. Godfrey Uwadia, has called on the Delta State Government and Inspector General of Police to intervene in the impending crisis.
Uwadia said the arrest of the duo was based on “framed up allegations,” adding that the mastermind of the arrest had boasted that “over his dead body would the refinery be established; and his reason for this is that he is claiming that he was not recognized when negotiations were going on between the company and the landlords.
“Lands in Umukwata are owned by individuals and not the community. The company has secured relations with the owners of the land measuring 278.5 acres and we are just about writing a Memorandum of Understanding for the outright purchase of the land and waiting for the investors to come in.
“We have already secured our license and we have a signboard in place to direct the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) to the place because they want to actually conduct an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).
“These men that were arrested are innocent and we want the Delta and Federal Government to intervene and secure their release. This is an issue that the government needs to step in because if the refinery is established it will be very dear to Deltans and Nigerians,” the company representative said.