Addax Petroleum Development (Nigeria) Limited has been dragged before the Federal High Court, Owerri, Imo State, over the agonising death of three brothers from Amaudara Village, Obeabo-Izombe in Oguta Local Government Area of Imo State.

News Express learnt that the three-page Writ of Summons was served on the defendant yesterday, Wednesday, March 15, 2023. It was issued from Nnaji Dike Chambers – the Law Offices of Prof. F.C. Dike, SAN (leading a team of Joint Solicitors), which filed the suit on behalf of the family of Mr. Peter Nnamdi-Durugo and indigenes of Umuduruagha Kindred of Amaudara Village, Obeabo-Izombe.

In the suit previously filed at the High Court Owerri but refilled at the Federal High Court following the declining of jurisdiction by the former, the plaintiffs accuse the defendant (Addax Petroleum) of negligence and violation of the Environmental Guideline and Standards (EGAS) of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) – now Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) – in relation to the 2018 Izombe Waste Pit Tragedy that claimed the lives of their sons (three brothers from the same parents) who died in Addax’s crude oil waste pit, on July 6 and 7, 2018.

The disaster, which shook Imo State and beyond, has been described as “a catastrophe of limitless proportions akin to a coordinated campaign of gene-pool erosion”.

The tragedy, according to the prosecuting counsel, “ripped through the hearts of the parents, survivors, under-aged children and family members of the deceased, breaking them into a thousand tiny pieces, just as Addax’s deadly stockpile of toxic chemicals ripped out and splintered the flesh and internal organs of the deceased Durugo brothers – Azubuike, Chigozie and Ebuka – while visiting them with the most brutal and gruesome death imaginable, inside a chemical pit that effectively recreates hell on earth. The waste pit is owned, operated and solely controlled by Addax Petroleum in its Izombe Flow Station.”

“The Addax Waste Pit tragedy is only the latest in a long run of devastating mishaps caused by poorly managed oil mining facilities and land based units owned, operated, and improperly maintained by MNOCs in Izombe in particular, and in the Imo State oil producing areas, as a whole,” remarked Chief Enyinna Onuegbu, KSC, Principal Partner at Ebekuodike Chambers, a member of the Joint Solicitors who filed the lawsuit.

“Mr. Peter Nnamdi-Durugo’s family was all but wiped out,” said Arinze Duru, Esq., the Attorney who sued on behalf of the plaintiffs.

“Addax Petroleum repeatedly failed to properly assess the risks posed to the host communities, the local population, their livelihood and their environment by its decrepit facilities, and failed to safely maintain and manage those facilities. A tragedy occasioned by a poorly run crude oil waste pit is not a ‘natural disaster’,” he said.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit are the aged parents, widows and sole surviving brother of the three deceased brothers who have suffered devastation and have had their lives turned upside-down by the waste pit tragedy.

As noted in the Statement of Claim, the deceased brothers “were practically boiled alive by the toxic crude oil waste chemicals, their intestines and other internal organs grotesquely eviscerated, and their sexual organs viciously burnt and exposed to public scorn and opprobrium – a disdainful act that shocks the conscience’.

The complainants aver that Addax Petroleum had failed or refused to proactively secure or properly operate its crude oil waste pit located in its Izombe Flow Station. They note that Addax also admitted in a letter to the Law Offices of Prof. F.C. Dike that its facility was poorly secured. The complainants lament that “despite this knowledge and these sub-optimal operating conditions, the MNOC failed to take the appropriate remedial action in order to protect the lives and property of the members of its host community”.

According to them, Addax Petroleum, and no one else, caused this devastation and tragic loss of life, unique in terms of its sheer size and scale, which has made the effect impossible to bear, and left 9 infants, aged between 15 months to 13 years without paternal care or guidance and resulted in its becoming the worst tragedy to occur in Izombe in a quarter of a century.

“Wanton violations by International Oil Companies, IOCs, have caused mass deaths and injuries in Izombe in the past, and Addax Petroleum in particular has been sanctioned on a number of occasions for these kinds of violations before the latest waste pit tragedy occurred,” said Omeoga Chukwu, Esq., Principal Partner at Omeoga Chukwu and Co., another member of the Joint Solicitors representing the plaintiffs.

“Addax knowingly and habitually underestimated the potential hazards and risks posed to the Izombe population by its malfunctioning systems and general misfeasance. Had Addax acted promptly and responsibly, the Durugo tragedy could have been prevented,” he added.

On his part, the plaintiffs’ attorney, Arinze Duru, said: “It is devastating to attempt the practical closure of an entire lineage in this manner, and to have a lifetime of memories destroyed.

“That it could have been prevented makes it even more heartbreaking. It is for this reason that we seek the order of Court to punish this egregiously insidious conduct of Defendant.”

The lawsuit states multiple causes of action including negligence, public nuisance, premises liability, as well as violations of the law, extant codes, rules and regulations governing oil and gas prospecting, mining and production operations in Nigeria, especially the DPR (now NMDPRA) Environmental Guidelines and Standards (EGAS). It seeks N10 billion in punitive and exemplary damages from Addax “for its gross negligence occasioning the wrongful death of the deceased, and psychological devastation to the plaintiffs and their families, as well as an order compelling Addax Petroleum to undertake soil and site remedial action and conform itself to global standards in its operations in Izombe and elsewhere in Nigeria.”

The Writ of Summons was served on the Defendant at their Izombe Flow station address, in Oguta LGA, Imo State.

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