Andoni Friends of the Earth, a non -governmental organisation has threatened to sue the Federal Government and the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) over the exclusion of Andoni in the implementation of the UNEP report.
The Coordinator of the organisation, Mr. Fred Okpanuwo said this in an interview with newsmen in Ngo, headquarters of Andoni Local Government Area.
Okpanuwo said that the exclusion of Andoni from the exercise was a deliberate ploy by the Federal Government to deny communities in the area the benefits of having their environment cleansed from oil pollution.
He also said that Andoni communities were listed in the UNEP Report as having suffered from oil pollution that occurred in Ogoniland and wondered why the communities were excluded from the current implementation of the report.
According to him, the major oil spills in Ogoni-land are within the boundaries of both Ogoni and Andoni communities.
He further said that most oil pollution in Ogoniland are felt mostly in the riverine areas which is inhabited by the Andonis, stressing that there is no way oil will spill in Ogoni without affecting the water- ways in Andoni.
The Coordinator said that the gross neglect of the Ogonis by both the Federal Government and the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) as noted in the UNEP Report has affected the Andonis, contending that since the two communities live within the same geographical area, the government would have considered the Andonis in the implementation of the report.
“The Niger Delta is a sensitive area because it has some surface and ground water that are interconnected beneath the earth of the region.
“And so, what affects Ogoni area also affects Andoni, because the runoffs from Ogoniland empty into Andoni rivers,” he said.
Okpanuwo said that the UNEP Report itself clearly shows that the Ogoni spill has affected Andoni communities, stressing that the Federal Government must act on the report immediately.
“We have the records of the UNEP report and the pictures are there. We will show it to the world that the UNEP report clearly stated that the Ogoni spill has affected Andoni communities.
“We are giving the Federal Government and its collaborators three months to include Andoni communities in the clean up or we drag them to court,” he said.
He said that most Andoni communities have lost their sources of livelihood as the spills have affected all the waterways of Andoni.
Okpanuwo also claimed that all acquatic organisms including fishes have been killed by the spills from the Ogoni area.