The seven protesting communities occupying Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) Estuary Area (EA) in Bayelsa have indicated that they will maintain a peaceful occupation of the facility while awaiting favourable mediation.

Timothy Geregere, chairman of Bisangbene, one of the host communities, disclosed this on Sunday at Bisangbene.

The communities in Ekeremor LGA of Bayelsa took the protest to the EA oilfields off the Atlantic coastline on Tuesday.

The protesters arrived at the facility on speedboats chanting solidarity songs in the Ijaw dialect.

Mr Geregere said although they have received appeals to vacate the facility, they would rather stay back but maintain a peaceful disposition until the matter is resolved.

According to him, they have assured that they will remain peaceful, keep vigil, and help the military secure the facility.

He said this would continue until the oil firm reverts the composition of the EA Host Community Development Trust (HCDT) to seven in reflection of the cultural affinity of the people.

He maintained that the plot by SPDC to foist five other communities in the HCDT was unacceptable.

He said the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021 mandates oil firms to set aside three per cent of their operational expenses for community development, which HCDT will manage.

Mr Geregere regretted that they were compelled to resort to a peaceful protest after unsuccessful attempts to resolve the dispute at the negotiating table.

The community leader regretted that despite making the position of the seven settlements clear in several letters to the company, SPDC ignored them.

“We have been compelled to go this far by mobilising the communities to draw the attention of all stakeholders to our simple demand; we want to be treated separately in the EA oilfield and have written several letters to SPDC. We have come here to draw attention to the delay tactics of foisting ‘strange bedfellows’ together, which is a grand plan to retard development.

“We will not allow divide-and-rule in our communities, so we are telling the world that we should be allowed to operate a separate trust. We will remain here until our demand is met, and earnestly hope they will not push us to shut down the facility,” he said.

He explained that the separation became necessary because the twelve communities in the EA, including five other communities, could not work together.

The seven communities that have resolved to work together are Bisangbene, Amatu I, Amatu II, Letugbene, Orobiri, Ogbintu and Azamabiri.

According to the community leader, four different clans initially operated the Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMoU) before the advent of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) in 2021.

He said when the PIA came, SPDC indicated intentions to merge the different clusters but that the seven communities rejected the proposal of adding five other communities with them.

They insisted on having a separate trust from the five other communities: Bilabiri 1, Bilabiri 2, Ikeni, Izetu, and Agge.

SPDC spokesperson Michael Adande said the matter was already in court.

“The EA Host Communities Development Trust is a subject of intra-communal litigation, the outcome of which is being awaited before any further steps by the SPDC,” said Mr Adande. 

(NAN)