Trouble is brewing in Ekpeye communites of Ahoada East and Ahoada West Local Government Areas over the alleged direction of Total E/P largesse to communities and landlord families of OML 58 by some persons.
Sources from the area informed The Tide that two cows and unspecified number of goats, including cartons of wine, were given by Total E/P to be shared to communities for the 2019 Ekpeye Festival.
Chairman, Ekpeye Forum, Peters Ayiga, however, told newsmen during a protest at the Tropicana Hotel, Ahoada, that the cows were for Ubeta and Awanigboko Communities for being host to OML 58, while the goats were for pipeline host communities and landlord families. Ayiga, however, said instead of three goats per pipeline host community and two per landlord family as the sharing formular, only one goat was given per landlord family, while the rest were diverted.
He said the matter has been reported to the Ekpeye Council of Chiefs.
Ayiga also stressed the need for the government to wade into the matter by inviting those in charge of the distribution of the items for questioning to avoid a breakdown of law and order in the area. He also urged the management of Total E/P to come into the matter by ensuring that the pipeline host communities and the landlord families get their fair share of the annual largess, saying that “the protest will continue, until the communities and landlord families get their fair share of the largess”.
Efforts to get the chairman of the Ekpeye oil and Gas Communities to react on the issue proved abortive as several phone calls to him were not replied or returned.