Mkpoikana Udoma
04 August 2018, Sweetcrude, Port Harcourt — The Ken Saro Wiwa Associates, KSWA, has petitioned the international community over alleged plans by the Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, to sell its stakes in OML11 to Heirs Holding Ltd, a company owned by business tycoon Tony Elumelu, for the sum of $2billion.
National Coordinator of the group, Chief Gani Topba, in a letter to the Managing Director of SPDC, Mr. Osagie Okunbor, said the people will resist any attempt by Shell to sell the stake in OML 11 to any company, without the consent of the people as enshrined in Article 32 of the United Nations declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples.
Topba, in the letter copied to 22 stakeholders, including President Muhammadu Buhari; the Diplomatic Community in Nigeria; the Head of Secretariat, ECOWAS; the President, Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation, UNPO in Brussels; the Secretary General, Commonwealth of Nations; amongst others, explained that the plans by SPDC to sell its asset was reported in Bloomberg magazine of Friday July 20, 2018.
“Royal Dutch Shell Plc is in talks to sell two Nigerian oil licenses in an area that is at the heart of environmental and human rights controversies for $2 billion, according to people familiar with the plan.
“The Anglo-Dutch oil major is discussing selling oil mining licenses 11 and 17 to Heirs Holdings Ltd., a company run by Nigerian tycoon Tony Elumelu,” Topba quoted the report in Bloomberg magazine as reporting.
The Ogoni leader further stated that SPDC which has been declared persona non grata in Ogoni, cannot hold stakes or profit from exploration and production of oil and gas in Ogoniland, until the Royal Dutch Shell accept responsibility and apologise for their complicity in the human rights violations and murder of Ogonis between 1993 and 1998.
Topba maintained that Ogoni people, like all indigenous people all over the world, have the right to determine the sale and development of their natural resources and that Nigeria is under obligation to respect that right, as enshrined in Article 32 of the United Nations declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples 2007.
He warned Heirs Holding Limited to steer clear of Ogoni oilfield, adding that the people will resist any attempt by Shell to cause crisis in the area.
