Affected communities in Gbaramatu Kingdom, Warri South-West Local Government Area of Delta State, are currently mobilising to storm an oil spill site in demonstrations against alleged connivance by a security agency of the government with a surveillance firm, Ocean Marine Solutions (OMS) and the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to restore a damaged pipeline belonging to the latter without any Joint Investigation (JIV) being carried out by the NNPCL and the affected communities.

The alarm which was raised on Saturday by a community leader who pleaded anonymity, said that the unhealthy development if not properly addressed is bound to create tension between the companies and host communities.

According to the community leader, the spill from the ruptured pipeline in Ubefan creek belonging to the NNPCL had been on for over three weeks since the incident happened.

He said "The spill has been on for about three weeks or a little bit more. We discovered the spill point about three weeks ago. We've been experiencing the spill, but we didn't actually know where it came from. And the company was informed about it by the community."

He stressed that some members of the community and staff of the company had earlier visited the site to ascertain the cause of the spill.

He also alleged that members of the community who were keeping vigil of the spill site were chased away by the military as the NNPCL and the OMS, which is the surveillance contractor as well the repair contractor, commenced repairs without any remediation by way of compensation to the victims in the communities that were affected by the oil spill.

"Military, OMS, in connivance with NNPCL, without consultation with the community, no JIV, no nothing, have driven away the community people from their site and gone ahead to weld a spill point when there has not been any communication with the community, no discussion, nothing.

"They intimidated the community people with gun boats and are carrying out the repair work now. But we have also mobilized women to go and take over the site," he added.

Speaking further he said the affected communities are mobilizing women and other natives to storm and take over the site with immediate effect.

"Meanwhile, our people are mobilizing to ensure that whatever happens, they are going to mobilize and take over the site," he stated.

This is a developing report. More details later.

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