Environmental degradation: Bayelsa monarch, stakeholders vow to get justice against Shell

From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa

The Chairman of Bayelsa State Traditional Rulers Council and Ibenananowei of Ekpetiama Kingdom, King Bubaraye Dakolo, Agada IV, has declared that there is no going back on the decision of oil-producing communities to challenge the divestment of Shell from the area after several years of oil pollution and environmental degradation.

The Ekpetiama Kingdom comprises several oil-producing communities that host the Gbarain-Ubie gas plant and Gbarain oilfields.

King Dakolo, while reacting in an interview to the stalling of the suit and adjournment because of a letter from the Attorney-General of the Federation asking for an adjournment, as he could not send a counsel to the Court, said Ekpetiama Kingdom would not be deterred in pursuing its case to a logical conclusion.

According to him, they are aware of the tactics being used to discourage people in the Ekpetiama Kingdom from pursuing the case.

“Well, I can say I am disappointed that the court did not hear the matter because the Attorney-General did not show up despite having several lawyers. These are the tactics used by the parties we have dealt with over the years. They try to wear you out, but we are not deterred. We know this is the tactic, but we are determined to go through the whole hug.

“We will continue. We will be here on May 6, 2026, and we will be alive to receive judgment, because no normal human being should accept the surreptitious way in which Shell disappeared from the Ekpetiama Kingdom and brought in the Renaissance without proper reference to what we represent as human beings. And so, despite the destruction and the catastrophe they have caused in my Kingdom, and to compound it by disappearing and changing guard, we must challenge it, and that is what we are doing. And I know that at the end of the day, the wheel of justice will grind to our side and we shall win.’’