The Olu of Warri, Ogiame Atuwatse III has encouraged protesters picketing the zonal office of Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) in Warri to continue with their protest peacefully against the shoddy implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
This is just as an Itsekiri group, the Forum for Concerned Indigenes of Oil-Producing Communities, urged the Olu of Warri to stop justifying the illegality of setting up the Iwere Host Community Development Trust, in contravention of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) signed into law in 2021.
The royal father spoke on Wednesday through the palace chiefs led by the Ologbotsere of Warri kingdom, Chief Oma Eyewuoma on a solidarity visit to the aggrieved protesters occupying the Warri office of NUPRC.
Our correspondent reports that the protesters had since Monday converged at the entrance of the Warri Zonal Office of the NUPRC in support of the Olu of Warri’s negation of the PIA provisions which stipulated a community-based and not ethnic-based Host Community Development Trust in its implementation.
The protesters had also alleged that the regulatory agency was conniving with some individuals to undermine the position of the Olu of Warri on the PIA.
Recall that the king had compiled a list of Host Communities Development Trust (HCDT) in Iwereland which some Itsekiri from Warri South West Local Government Area who are host to international oil companies had kicked against, noting that it was not specified in the PIA.
Addressing the people, the Ologbotsere said that they would resist attempt by few group of individuals to continue to convert their common patrimony into their personal benefits.
He said that the same group of individuals was trying to upturn the PIA board constituted by the Itsekiri people at the instance of the royal father.
“We are demanding what is ours. We do not want anybody’s own. What is ours should be giving to all of us as Itsekiris.
“The step that the Olu of Warri has taken to ensure that every person benefits from the largess that God Almighty has put in our land.
“A few group of people are trying to scuttle it, that is what we are against and that is why we are here.
“We are here because lies have being told to the NUPRC and they are likely to take decision based on the lies they have been told.
“So, we the Itsekiri people are saying enough is enough. We want everybody to hear us, see us, listen and sympathise with us,” he said.
In a statement signed by the chairman and secretary of the Forum for Concerned Indigenes of Oil-Producing Communities, Oritsejolomi Edema and Ezekiel Amorighoye, the group said: “We have watched with keen interest as the Palace of the Olu of Warri make futile attempts and laboured fruitlessly to justify the illegality of setting up the Iwere Host Community Development Trust, which contravenes and of course, completely negates the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), that was signed into law in 2021.
“The Act only made provisions for the establishment of Host Community Development Trusts (HCDTs) for oil producing communities.
“The Iwere Host Community Trust is illegitimate as it is a creation of the Olu of Warri, Ogiame Atuwatse III. He also singlehandedly compiled its membership.
“After this unwholesome autocracy, the Palace has tried to ram the illegality down the throat of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).
“The unacceptable charade of the Palace is being resisted by the host communities to the Otumara Oil Fields and Flow Station.
“They are demanding that the illegality being perpetrated by the Olu should not be given official recognition by NUPRC.
That instead, the host communities, namely Ugborodo, Deghele and Ugboegungun, legitimately demand the establishment of Otumara Host Community Development Trust and Ikpere Host Community Development Trust, respectively, for a joint implementation of the PIA, with SPDC, CNL and NUPRC as incorporated in the PIA.
“The host communities in this regard want NUPRC to strictly adhere to the provisions of the law. And that NUPRC should act only based on extant laws, which is the PIA and its accompanying regulations,” the group noted.
The group also accused Ogiame Atuwatse III of double standard by allowing NUPRC to accept host community trust created by Abigborodo Itsekiri community with the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC).
“What the Olu and his Palace have done is the establishment of a Trust that agglomerates the entire Itsekiri nation as one host community, which is fraudulent and of course, usurps the rights of oil bearing communities.
“This was not envisaged nor did it form part of the Petroleum Industry Act 2021.
“The PIA only recognises host communities and not ethnic group, as done in the case of the general board of trustees constituted by the Olu of Warri, code-named Iwere Host Community Development Trust.
“Besides, the aforesaid, The Palace is engaged in double standards. It did not interfere in the arrangement between Abigborodo and NPDC.
“That arrangement was allowed to fly in accordance with the PIA, apparently because some prominent supporters and backers of the Palace are from that area. A clear case of different rules for different folks. Nonetheless, what is a sauce for the goose should have been a sauce for the gander.
“In the case of Abigborodo, NPDC did not go to the Palace. Both parties had their agreement signed and sealed independently. Is Abigborodo not part of the Itsekiri kingdom? Why was the proper procedure adopted in the case of that community?
“With the preferential treatment given to Abigborodo, it has become very clear that the action of the Palace is purely targeted at some individuals in other host communities, especially in the case of Ugborodo, Deghele and Ugboegungun,” the group further noted.
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