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From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
The Bayelsa State Government has again warned communities embroiled in land and boundary disputes to refrain from resorting to armed violence, as the government would deal decisively with any community found wanting.
The Deputy Governor of the state, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, gave the warning at a meeting with leaders of Elepa and Egweama communities in Nembe and Brass local government areas respectively.
Senator Ewhrudjakpo said the government would not hesitate to apprehend leaders of communities, who encourage armed conflicts with their neighbours over ownership of ancestral lands.
He called on the leaders of Elepa and Egweama communities to maintain the peace in their areas, as the ownership of the land where the Elepa Oil Fields are located is the subject of an ongoing legal suit at the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
Ewhrudjakpo directed the state Police Command to liaise with other security agencies to protect lives and property in the area, including the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) facilities at the five Elepa oil wells.
He added that the government might direct the SPDC to open an escrow account into which all royalties accruing from the five oil wells will be paid, pending when the Supreme Court delivers its judgment on the land ownership dispute.
In another development, Ewhrudjakpo appealed to the leaders of the Okoroma clan to prevail on their women to vacate Nigerian AGIP Oil Company (NAOC) Oil Flow Station belonging to the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC), as machinery had been put in place to address their grouse.
The deputy-governor at a meeting with representatives of NAOC and leaders of Okoroma led by the Chairman of the Okoroma Council of Chiefs, Ebinimi Donka Solomon expressed the government’s concern about the power outage in Okoroma and urged the people to demobilize from the oil platform since the company had already started repairing the broken-down power plant to restore power in the clan.
“The government is concerned about the light issue in Okoroma, which has led to the shutdown of the NAOC oil flow station there.
“We want you to talk to your women and prevail on them to leave the facility. We have already told NAOC to take steps to resolve this issue as quickly as possible.
“We expect the oil companies to maintain their integrity by fulfilling their promises. They should make things easy for the government.”
In their joint presentation, the Chairman of the Okoroma Chiefs Council, Chief Ebinimi Donka Solomon, and the spokesman, Chief Kienwiro Nanyo, explained that the women occupied the flow station because of the protracted electricity problem in the area.
Speaking on behalf of the NAOC, the Stakeholders and Community Development Manager, Mrs Moji Olorode, assured that the company was intensifying efforts to restore the power supply to Okoroma.
Mrs Olorode, who thanked the state government for intervening in the matter, pointed out that some safety concerns at the occupied oil flow station needed to be addressed to forestall unnecessary loss of lives and property.
