RE: Protest At Escravos Terminal; NNPCL, NUPRC Disown Chevron

*How Chevron, Olu of Warri Palace colluded to circumvent NUPRC recommendations, PIB laws

Our attention has been drawn to a “syndicated report” on Oasis Magazine online newspaper with the above headline in which the authors unsuccessfully tried to not only blackmail the Palace of the Olu of Warri and His Majesty Ogiame Atuwatse III, CFR but also to fallaciously spread fake news to curry sympathy from the unsuspecting public over their nefarious act to trample under their feet the collective will of the generality of Ugborodo, Deghele, Ugbegungun, and by extension those communities under Olero, Dibi, and Abiteye Fields.

For the avoidance of doubts the initial protest that neccesitated Letter by the Chief Executive of the NUPRC, Mr. Gbenga Komolafe and addressed to the MD of Chevron Dated 7th August 2023 (not 6th September 2023 as earlier reported in the publication) was copied only to His Majesty Ogiame Atuwatse III , (CFR) the Olu of Warri.

The letter titled “REPORT OF THE MEETING HELD BETWEEN REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UGBORODO, DEGHELE AND UGBOEGUNGUN COMMUNITIES AND CHEVRON NIGERIA LIMITED ON THE DISPUTE REGARDING THE ESTABLISHMENT OF IWERE LAND HOST COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT TRUST (HCDT)” contained the following points;

1. That Chevron in consultation with the Host Community should adopt a suitable name for the HCDT.

2. That Chevron in consultation with the Host Community should expand the composition of the EXISTING membership of the HCDT Board of Trustees from Five (5) to Nine (9)

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3. You are hereby required to update the Commission on the implementation of the above within two (2) weeks from the receipt of this letter.

We then wonder where the different phrases like;

1. “The Chief Executive of NUPRC, Mr. Gbenga Komolafe in a letter to CNL Boss dated September 6th, 2023, asked chevron management to respect the spirits and letters of the PIA in handling the grievances of its communities”.

2. “Chevron to act in consultation with the commission and the three communities on the naming of the HCDT for communities around the Escravos terminal”.

3. “Besides Komolafe directed that Chevron in consultation with the host communities should expand the proposed membership of the HCDT Board of Trustees from Five to Nine”.

4. “You are hereby required to work peacefully with the host communities in the implementation of the above within 2 weeks from receipt of this letter”.

were imported into the said letter.

We also wonder how in the figment of the imagination of the Authors of the said publication “Chevron contravened the directives of Komolafe in desperation to satisfy the parochial wimps and caprices of the Olu of Warri, Ogiame Atuwatse III, CFR”.
This at best is either a lie taken too far by the Authors of the publication or they are obviously suffering from selective dementia. It is at worst a campaign of calumny, character assassination, and a perfidious act against the Revered throne of Warri Kingdom.

One question begging for answer is if the Letter said Ugborodo Community should be separated from Deghele and Ugbegungun? It is also important to note that the name- Ikpere Host Community Development Trust (IHDCT) being canvassed by the Ugborodo protesters is synonymous with only Ugborodo and not with Deghele, Ugbegungun the other about twenty communities in Olero, Dibi, Abiteye affected by the letter.

We wish to place it on record that at no time did the Palace of the Olu of Warri His Majesty Ogiame Atuwatse III, CFR imposed any name on Chevron for any of the Itsekiri Communities.
The other communities in that axis like all other Itsekiris are happy with the Olu of Warri, His Majesty Ogiame Atuwatse III, CFR the overlord of all Iwere Land (Ale Iwere Ti Ogiame) and his handling of the PIA issue since it started till date.
It is only some selected few who are not just greedy but have raped and pillaged the community people repeatedly thereby trying to undermine the authority of the Olu of Warri.
This fact makes their perfidy more disgraceful.

The Itsekiri people are Happy that Chevron Nigeria Limited did not insult Itsekiri people by bypassing the Overlord of Itsekiri whom they consulted to form the PIA as they did with all other tribes and peoples in the Niger Delta.

Signed;

Prince Collins Oritsetimeyin Edema
(Olu Palace Liason Officer to NNPCL)