A fresh oil spill has reportedly destroyed farmlands in Rumuoduwere community in Elelenwo clan in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State.
The oil spill, which occurred on Sunday, saw villagers running for their lives, with allegations that the spill came from a facility owned by the Shell Petroleum Development Company.
While addressing the media shortly after inspecting the farmlands that were damaged, on Monday, a spokesman for the community, Martin Enwuka, accused Shell for its long standing negligence as he wails over the negative impact that the oil spill always brings.
Enwuka said, “Since 1957, Shell has been operating in Rumuoduwere community in Elelenwo, Obio/Akpor Local Government Area. Shell has not been doing anything, you cannot see anything to show that Shell’s presence is in Rumuoduwere here. You won’t see anything. Shell has been spilling oil for the past three years now.
‘’And because of this, anytime they come to repair the pipe, they won’t see the paramount ruler or Rumuoduwere community people. They’ll sideline us and our people are not happy. This spill has damaged the underground water. All our boreholes here are out of use.
“They’ve been drilling boreholes, people have been drilling boreholes. If you drill 150m today, tomorrow you’ll drill 200m. Every time, people are changing their boreholes because of what Shell is doing. They don’t care to know how we feel. They don’t care.”
He further called on the state and federal governments to call Shell to order and to bear full responsibility of their action, saying, “We call on the Rivers State Government and the Federal Government to warn Shell, because we’re not happy with them, to stop spilling oil on our lands. All our farmlands are destroyed, everywhere is out, and we are not farming in that area again.
“They constantly destroy our water; destroying our land without compensation. They don’t have any feelings for us. If you say, “Okay, come and see the community, tell us the way forward’, they will say never.
The community spokesman also with pleaded the Shell company to desist from operational activities that will further damage their properties, lives and land.
He said : “So, we’re warning them for the last time to stop damaging our land. They should stop polluting our waters, especially our underground water.
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