By Paul Osuyi, Asaba
An oil flow station in Kwale, Ndokwa West Local Government Area of Delta State has been shut by angry youths in the area.
The oil facility is operated by Pillar Oil Company.
In a trending video, some youths under the aegis of Ndokwa Niger Delta Warriors and led by one Henry, were seen shutting the facilities.
They spoke in the local Ndokwa dialect while code-switching into English and pidgin languages.
From his uterances, Henry claimed to be a freedom fighter who came in from London to emancipate his Ndokwa kinsmen from years of neglect and marginalisation allegedly by government and oil companies.
But investigation revealed another angle to the saga. It was gethered that the tenure of office of Umuseti Community Development Committee, Kwale had expired but the executive refused to step aside.
It was further gathered that Pillar Oil was allegedly still paying royalty to the executive whose tenure had expired.
As a result, a faction of the community youths led by one Frank said to be based in the United States allegedly sponsored the shut down of the flow station.
Meanwhile, the unsavoury development is coming few days after Governor Ifeanyi Okowa met with Ndokwa Youths in the state led by it’s president general, Anselm Nzete at the Government House, Asaba.
Okowa who reportedly decried oil companies’ neglect of host communities expressed concern over the non-implementation of Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) by some oil companies operating in the state.
The governor also expressed disappointment in some of the companies for failing to partner the government to develop host communities in spite of the peace in the communities.
Our correspondent learnt most stakeholders in Ndokwa area especially the youths have recently be coming out strong, warning that their peaceful disposition should not be taken for cowardice.
At various fora, and even in open letters to the authorities, Ndokwa people had decried the infrastructural neglect of their land where massive oil exploration activities are taking place.
They had also bemoaned the political marginalisation of it’s people, warning that they were running out of patient and that urgent steps should be taken to address the anomaly.
The latest action of the youths on the Pillar Oil Flow Station might just be the spark to another major crisis in the region if not quickly addressed, although some persons are said to have already be arrested by the army.
As at the time of filing this report, the company was yet to react, as inside sources said they were waiting for the Chief Executive Officer before any official position could be taken.