By FRANK SHEDRACK

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

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

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the communities in Ekeremor Local Government Area 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.

Geregere says 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 they will remain peaceful, keeping vigil and helping the military to 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.

The Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, he says, mandates oil firms to set aside three per cent of their operational expenses for community development to be managed by HCDT.

Geregere regretted that they were compelled to resort to a peaceful protest having made efforts to no avail to resolve the dispute on the negotiating table.

The community leader said it was regrettable 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.

NAN reports that 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, which are Bilabiri 1, Bilabiri 2, Ikeni, Izetu, and Agge.

When contacted, SPDC Spokesperson, Mr 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.” (NAN)

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