Ogoni Widows Sue Shell In Netherlands

The widows of four of the nine men executed by Nigeria’s military regime in 1995 have filed a civil lawsuit seeking compensation and an apology from Royal Dutch Shell.
The widows are Esther Kiobel, Victoria Bera, Blessing Eawo and Charity Levula.
According to a writ filed in a court in The Hague, the widows are seeking compensation from the company for alleged complicity in a military crackdown, leading to the deaths of their husbands.
The Nigerian military cracked down heavily on local opposition to oil production by a Shell SUBSIDIARY, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) in the Niger Delta region in the early 1990s.
The suit filed by the four widows alleged that Shell provided support to the military in the crackdown that ultimately led to the executions of the men, known as the Ogoni 9.
But Shell, the largest oil producer in Nigeria, has repeatedly denied any involvement in the executions or the government’s response to the unrest.
A statement by the multinational said the company did not collude with the military, adding that it believed in dialogue.
“We have always denied, in the strongest possible terms, the allegations made by the plaintiffs in this tragic case,” the statement said last Wednesday.
“SPDC (Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria) did not collude with the authorities to suppress community unrest and in no way encouraged or advocated any act of

Susan Serekara-Nwikhana with Agency Report