The riverine communities of Kunukunuma, Seitorububor, Camp 5, Iva, Ugbai-Sipou I and II, Igbodibigbo, Itagbene I and II, Agbere I and II, Ajagbene I and II, Benaseigha-gbene, Kunukunuma-Sipou, Leigha and Olu-Gbene, all in Warri South-West Local Government Area of Delta State, have lamented the extensive damage to their environment and livelihoods by a massive oil spill "from the 28 inch Trans Forcados Pipeline (TFP) under the operational sphere of Heritage Energy Operational Services Limited", which natives claimed has put their lives in jeopardy.

According to some natives of the affected communities, the crude oil spill which was first observed on Friday, February 20, 2026, had spread unabated across the riverine communities for days, thereby impacting on their livelihoods as well as posing a threat to the health of inhabitants.

Addressing the media during a tour of the affected sites, a member of Kunukunuma community, Dr. Abraham Tebiano, said in pidgin English, "This oil don scatter all of our villages; our women nor dey fishing again; all the fish don dey die and float for the river, all our farm lands don scatter finish. Nothing dey happen for this river."

Tebiano, who is the General Secretary of Kunukunuma, called on the agencies of the federal government such as the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) tasked with dealing with issues of oil spill, as well as on the Delta State Government to come to the rescue of the inhabitants whose survival is hanging on the balance.

A tour around the affected creeks revealed that the massive oil spill occurred somewhere around Odidi Community, one of the host communities, and the crude substance could be seen floating on top the waters in the creeks, even as some children were spotted by the banks of the river collecting some of the crude oil into cans, thereby exposing themselves to health implications.

Meanwhile, the affected communities have called for the setting up of a Joint Investigation Visit (JIV) to ascertain the cause and the extent of the spill on the listed communities they claimed were "among the worst hit / impacted."

In addition, they demanded that the company urgently take proactive steps to curtail the menace of the rampaging, noxious crude oil that is destroying their communities; the provision of relief materials for the adverse effect of the spill on affected communities to ameliorate the suffering and hardship being faced by inhabitants; and a discussion of fair and adequate compensation to be paid to the affected communities by Heritage for the wanton damages suffered by them.

Oil spillage in the Niger Delta has been a severe, decades-long environmental crisis with over 6,000 recorded incidents driven by aging infrastructure, as well as oil theft and sabotage, which are destroying livelihoods, contaminating water, reducing agricultural yields, and causing long-term health issues.

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