Irate youths and women of Kolo Creek Cluster communities of Elebele, Imiringi, Otuasega and Oruma in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State have staged a protest and shut down the Otuasega manifold and the Kolo Creek Logistics base, operated by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) of Nigeria.
Checks by ARMADANEWS at Otuasega manifold and the Kolo Creek Logistics base showed that hundreds of the community barricaded the entrance to the SPDC’s facilities, as they sang solidarity songs.
Mr. Okala Precious, the Community Development Committee (CDC) chairman of Elebele community cum the Action Committee chairman for the Kolo! Creek Cluster communities, said their protest stemmed from SPDC’s failure to restore electricity supply to the area despite several meetings.
According to him, the protest was carried out as a last resort to draw the attention of the SPDC management to their plights following several talks.
“We are a peace loving people and in as much as we want our country, state and local government to survive, we will always give peace a chance. Why we are out today boils down to a meeting we had with Shell and we were invited by the state government because they were given a three day ultimatum. That meeting was held on 14th May, 2024”, Okala said.”
He added: “However, the position of government was a two week resolution which expired yesterday. It is expected that as peace loving people we should come out to demonstrate peacefully to press home our demand which is restoration of uninterrupted power supply to the four communities in the Kolo Creek Cluster.
“It is not too much for Shell to do for our communities, after all, they cannot compare the amount of resources they extract from our land to the light we are demanding. Even the rationing aspect they came up with we are not seeing. The two generating sets are totally down. All that the four communities are asking is to restore power. Let it not be as if Shell base enjoy uninterrupted power supply while our communities are in darkness. The government and the law enforcement agencies are aware that this protest is peaceful.
“The manifold and rig located at Otuasega are down and the major location at Imiringi is also shut down. We know very well that by the time Shell compares and contrasts their loss and what they are supposed to give to us their loss will be much greater. So they should do the needful. We are demanding that a 10 megawatt generating plant or a mini gas turbine that will better serve the Kolo Creek Custer communities be installed.”
It was gathered that the Spokesperson for the SPDC, Mr. Michael Adande, failed to respond to enquirers by the press.