Tony Ogaga
Located on the banks of the River Ethiope, Ovre-Eku is one of the five Urhobo communities straddling the legendary river.
It is one community that has long lived on farming and fishing. Therefore, when oil was discovered at Ovre-Eku in 2013, the indigenes were overwhelmed with joy and expectations.
Shortly after, an oil company, Cross Petroleum, drilled a well in the community. The firm also renovated Ovre-Eku Primary School, the only primary school in the community. Expectations were high in the community that a bright future beckoned.
Six years later, the fortunes of the town have indeed changed, for the worse.
In the last four years, the community has been under siege. Soldiers, policemen and militias have been unleashed on residents and their farmlands, among others.
Leaders and members of the community have accused a multinational firm, Presco, as the cause of their woes. They insist that the actions of the company have culminated in the displacement of thousands of indigenes from their ancestral land.
Attempts to get the firm to react to the allegations were unsuccessful, as enquiries sent to the company’s email remained unanswered.
A recent visit by the reporter to Ovre-Eku revealed a litany of woes. The space the community once occupied is mostly now a palm plantation stretching from horizon to horizon.
Lamenting the plight of his people, the president-general of the community, Joseph Ukueku, asserted that: “All the Urhobo communities along the Ethiope River are threatened. All attempts to rein in Presco have failed. There is a deliberate attempt to eliminate our people. Drainage water has been diverted. Now our houses are flooded and collapsing.”
In the beginning
Recalling how the fortunes of the community degenerated, Ukueku, an octogenarian, lamented: “As I speak to you, a lot of people have died due to hunger and heartbreak. Day after day, we have reports of people slumping and dying. One man called Mr. Governor George, formerly a big farmer, is now an okada rider. Ikeregbe Richard slumped and died after he saw his life investment worth millions of naira being bulldozed by officials of the company. Adele Joseph died after he witnessed earth-moving equipment deployed by Presco to bulldoze his entire life investment. Emmanuel slumped in front of his house. Our women, wives and mothers have been beaten and incarcerated and their only crime was to stand up and fight for their rights. The actions of these company have displaced over 2,000 people and robbed the community of its livelihood.
“It all started sometime in September 2015. Our people woke up to see earth-moving equipment bulldozing their farmlands, homes, the graves of their ancestors and their shrines. The people were helpless because the invaders had the backing of policemen from SPU Base Five, Benin, Edo State.
“There was anger and frustration and when we confronted them and they said they were from Presco. We had to invite the police from Eku and a man was arrested. But one official of the company called Dr. Uche Uche said that he should be released.
“But the police queried him. They said, ‘how do you take over a whole community without any pre-arrangement, discussion or negotiation? These people have been here from time immemorial. This is their town, their village, their ancestral heritage. You cannot do this. You either negotiate or steer clear in order to avoid a breakdown of law and order.’”
According to Ukueku, the officials left. But he said the company continued to ship in bulldozing equipment. In protest, the people held a peaceful demonstration in November 2015. After the protest, the firm reportedly pulled out entirely.
Ukueku recalled: “We thought it was all over. But on December 8, 2015, the managing director of the firm came to Eku with three truckloads of armed soldiers from 4th Brigade of the Nigerian Army in Benin. He said his mission was to know how they could lease the place from our people.
“But we asked him some questions. ‘How did you get here? Who did you meet or talk to? We don’t know the basis of your first deal so we cannot start a new deal with you until you shed light on how you got here.’ But he got angry and stormed out of the meeting.”
If the people of Ovre-Ekwu thought they had finally got rid of the firm, they were wrong. On the night of April 20, 2015, the community leaders said they received news of an impending invasion: “We felt it was just a rumour. On January 6, 2016, Fulani herdsmen who have been dwelling with us came and warned us of an impending invasion. They alleged that this same firm had made arrangements with soldiers and security operatives to invade Ovre-Eku and seize our lands forcefully. We raised the alarm but people said it was impossible.”
Invasion
Chief Okotie, a community leader, said the place was invaded on January 28, 2016. He spoke further: “People were fleeing their homes and farms. There was panic and total breakdown of law and order. So, the president-general sent two men and myself to investigate. As we were approaching, the soldiers asked the bike man carrying us to stop and carry his bike on his head and we stood, facing menacing, gun-toting soldiers. We were scared that we might be shot and killed.
“One of the soldiers came forward and interrogated me and we told them that we were emissaries from the president-general of the community and we wanted to know what was happening. The soldier told us that the entire area had been taken over by Presco and nobody should come near. He said whoever dared would face dire consequences. We were shocked. Immediately, we petitioned the Chief of Army Staff, Commander, 4th Brigade and all authorities, including the Delta State government.”
Ukueku continued: “Suddenly, there was a call for a meeting from the company. They said that they were coming to see us at the town hall. They brought some people from the Ministry of Agriculture and introduced one Lieutenant Oworobo and they started the same story they told us during their last visit. But we said, ‘some people came to destroy our crops, houses, graveyards and farmlands without recourse to the people. We insist on knowing how you got access to our land. If you enlighten us, we will know where to start from.’
“At his point Lieutenant Oworobo stood up and said that, as commander of the soldiers, he was reassuring us that the firm would not do anything on our land pending negotiations. We were all happy.”
Sorrow, tears, hunger
If the people of the community felt that it was all over, again they were wrong. The president-general alleged that, the following day, the soldiers struck.
His words: “We saw people running from their farmlands, with motorcycles being seized and farmers being chased with cutlasses and guns. Ovre-Eku was under siege. Days after, they mounted a sign, which boldly stated: ‘No farming, no grazing, no hunting! This land belongs to Presco.’ They pasted flyers all over the villages in the community and there was tension everywhere.
“Meanwhile, the soldiers were patrolling the bushes day and night to see that our people didn’t farm or return to their dwellings. This led to hunger, as people could not access their farm produce. This forced the women, over 500 of them, to protest on Wednesday, March 2, 2016. They were dressed in black and they carried a coffin to show that they were mourning and danced to Presco.”
The president-general alleged that soldiers beat up the protesting women.
“We are talking about our grandmothers, mothers and sisters of between 16 and 85,” Ukueku lamented. “An 85-year-old woman was beaten mercilessly. They were chased into the bush and flogged. They destroyed nine motorcycles and 13 bicycles.”
The community leader also alleged that, at about 3am the same night, policemen from Edo State Command, along with soldiers attached to Presco and their militia, invaded Eku Town and broke into homes.
“We immediately petitioned the Area Commander in Ughelli, thinking they could assist us but nothing happened. On November 10, 2016, Delta State government issued a terse statement that Presco should back off or face stiff sanctions. But the company failed to obey the directive.
“Officials of the company boasted to our people that there was nothing the Delta State government could do to them and that they wouldn’t vacate. They said the powers behind them were more than the power ruling Nigeria,” Ukueku said.
Ukueku also alleged that, by February 2017, the multinational had moved to consolidate its hold on Ovre-Eku by setting up an armed militia: “They drove around the town shooting indiscriminately and creating an atmosphere of fear and people fled for safety. We reported to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad in Asaba who swooped in and made some arrests and returned normalcy to our village. Things were going on fine when, suddenly, operatives from Zone 5 police raided our community again.”
He said the raid lasted till dawn and it culminated in his arrest and he was whisked to Zone 5, Edo State.
“It was chaos,” Ukueku recalled. “They entered Eku, arresting people and beat them up. It was at that stage that the entire village was bulldozed and they brought in heavy earth-moving equipment, over 150 of them. Houses, crops worth millions of naira, graveyards and homes were levelled to the ground with police backing.
“There is an agenda bigger than the palm trees. We have all done palm kernel business and I can assure you that the profit that they will make from it and the money they are spending attacking our people is not justifiable, businesswise. It exposes the fact that these people are not here to farm but here for our oil. Their primary interest is our oil.
“We cannot take the law into our hands. Despite the harassment, we have told our people not to throw stones at anybody. It has taken us close to three years in this battle. We have come to a stage where we are waiting for government to act, but the truth is both state and federal government are failing us.
“The Ovie of Umiagwha-Abraka and all the traditional rulers of the affected communities in Delta State have been prevailing on their respective subjects not to take the law into their hands.”
SOS to govt
He urged President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately order the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to Ovre-Eku. “That will give us a sense of inclusion so that we are sure that we are a part of Nigeria. Our people are dying on a daily basis. The issue of boundary demarcation is an emergency and must be addressed at once. This problem is a consequence of the failure of the Boundary Adjustment Commission. We should not be the victims of this failure. We are not part of Benin Kingdom or Edo State. And if our land is in dispute, our people have a right to life. Edo State cannot sell us, our lands and our ancestral heritage.”
He also has a message for the Delta State governor, Ifeanyi Okowa: “He should act fast and address the boundary adjustment issue. The oil discovered is for Delta State and not Edo State. Edo State should not be allowed to dispossess us of our ancestral heritage.”
Confusion over boundary
At a meeting between Edo and Delta states on July 17, Deputy Governor of Delta State, Deacon Kingsley Burutu Otuaro, explained that in April 1995, in Government House, Benin City, the two states met and signed a memorandum of understanding to maintain the status quo pending the determination of the boundaries by the National Boundary Commission.
He added that, earlier, on September 15, 2011, and April 6, 2016, in Asaba, similar documents were signed to maintain the status quo.
Chairman of the Boundary Adjustment Committee in the state, Abel Idigun, told the reporter: “While Delta State Government and its communities were obeying the various signed documents to maintain the peace, the Edo State Government surreptitiously issued Presco Plc a purported certificate of occupancy dated 2010 and covering all Delta communities sharing boundaries with Edo State. That made Presco Plc to mobilise the army, police, civil defence and armed youths to harass and intimidate Delta ommunities and forcefully occupy their land. This is tragic and must be stopped.”
Firm keeps mum
Meanwhile, attempts to reach out to Presco were unsuccessful. Calls placed to a number on the company’s website at http://www.presco-plc.com/contact-us/ were not successful for days. The number is 08034134444. However, when the line finally went through, a lady who did not introduce herself said she could not speak on behalf of the company and furnished the reporter with an email address – [email protected]. Questions forwarded to the email seeking the company’s reactions to the issues raised by the Ovre-Eku community were never answered.