Ijaw leader Chief Edwin Clark has urged Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) to clean up its oil spills in the Niger Delta region before selling off its onshore facility assets and departing the nation.
Clark, who said yesterday in Abuja while hosting a delegation of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) led by National Vice President Atigbi Freedom, urged SPDC to clean up the region’s contaminated environment before leaving Nigeria.
The former National Commissioner stated that Niger Delta inhabitants and the Ijaw nation could no longer tolerate what he described as exploitation by global oil firms, particularly SPDC.
He branded the oil giant’s move as an injustice, stating that it was unjust and unacceptable to the inhabitants of the region.
Clark threatened that Niger Delta people would use all legal remedies to resolve the problem.
Clark added, “I have a list of court issues containing 147 cases taken against Shell and some of the oil companies. More of them are coming. Enough is enough. We can no longer tolerate their exploitation.”
The Ijaw leader was responding to IYC’s declaration that Shell planned to sell its assets in preparation for leaving the country, notwithstanding the impact of its oil disaster and the destruction of the Niger Delta ecosystem, which pose health risks to the people.
Clark said, “These are my grandchildren. You know I am the leader of our people. I did not buy it; they made me.
”In March 1975, in Bomodi, the entire Ijaw community—traditional leaders, politicians, and ministers—gathered to honor me with the title of Izon Leader, a man who looks at the interests of the Ijaw people.
”Since then, I have been a leader; I have not betrayed them. They came to me to report the new development. I agree with them that we will follow the issue in a legal way.”
Ambassador Binabai Yerin Princewill, IYC’s spokeswoman, hinted that the Federal Government and SDPC were selling off functional assets in the Niger Delta.
“So, the IYC met and addressed the press, rejecting what they were planning to do. We are not in tandem with that until the Ijaw people are carried along.
“The Niger Delta people must be included in this process because our environment has been destroyed and damaged; our environment has been violated and abused for so many years.
“Shell is yet to even clean up our environment properly. Now, they are talking about selling off their assets. Most of these assets are on Ijaw land.
“Now, they have not done the clean-up, and they want to sell the assets to other people without recourse to the Niger Delta indigenes, the Ijaw people whose lands these facilities are located,” he said.
