Ogoni Communities Disagree On Oil Exploration

Oil-bearing communities in Ogoniland have disagreed with the Supreme Council of Ogoni Traditional Rulers over the purported endorsement of an oil company to operate in Ogoni oil fields.
This was part of a resolution reached at the end of a meeting of Ogoni oil-bearing Communities Traditional Rulers Council in Eleme.
The communities said that the Supreme Council of Ogoni Traditional Rulers should not impose Robo Michael on them, since the issuance of an all embracing social license for oil exploration and exploitation was totally out of their reach.
The oil-bearing communities which affirmed their support for Belema Oil noted that the unanimous acceptance of Belema Oil by all shades of opinion in Ogoniland in 2014 was the reason for the issuance of various recommendation letters of the company to various authorities concerned with oil business.
The resolution signed by the President of the oil-bearing communities, Chief Donald Gberesu further said that the oil-bearing communities would reject any intrusion from any quarters in their domestic affairs.
“We, the paramount rulers of oil-bearing communities in Ogoniland are saying in clear terms that we are the landlords of our communities.
“We take full responsibilities for what happens in our domain.
“We hereby resolved that no one has the right to discuss, negotiate with any investor be it public or private without our consent”, it said.
It would be recalled that the Supreme Council of Ogoni Traditional Rulers had last week endorsed Robo Michael Nigeria Limited oil exploration in Ogoniland.
The Public Relations Officer of the council, Mene Samuel Nnee said that the council’s decision was sequel to the issuance of licence to Robo Michael by the Nigerian National Petroleum Development Corporation (NNPC).