Posts under ‘Ogoni 9’

Shell’s past sins in Nigeria catching up with the oil giant at last

The recent UK Supreme Court judgement represents a major defeat for Shell after decades of evading legal retribution for its evil plunder and pollution in Nigeria.  

The crusading solicitors Leigh Day (London) – the scourge of errant corporations, brought the action against Shell on behalf of Nigerian communities impacted over many years by Shell’s horrific environmental legacy in Nigeria. 

My help was sought by Leigh Day in bringing the action after Leigh Day discovered “invaluable” information on my website royaldutchshellplc.com.  read more

Shell’s legal woes over Nigeria’s oil

Environmental cases:

Shell has tried to shed its image of corporate killer like a snake would its skin.

Dear Shell: After 25 Years, Are You Finally Ready to Accept Your Role in the Murder of Ogoni 9?

The Ogoni 9 — Ken Saro-Wiwa, Saturday Dobee, Nordu Eawo, Daniel Gbooko, Paul Levera, Felix Nuate, Baribor Bera, Barinem Kiobel, and John Kpuine — were murdered 25 years ago for their campaign against Shell. Photo by Martin LeSanto-Smith.

And so another grim, painful milestone is reached. It is now a quarter of a century since the Ogoni 9 were murdered in Nigeria. read more

Nigeria protests target Shell in UK, Netherlands

Activists have mounted demonstrations at Shell’s headquarters in London and The Hague, in protest over the killings of the Ogoni 9 in Nigeria, 25 years ago.

Eight activists from Extinction Rebellion Rotterdam climbed a Shell storage tank in Pernis. A spokesman for the group, Marjolein: “Although Shell is obliged to clean up the oil, they appear to be failing to deliver on their promises as always. That is why today we protest at one of Europe’s largest oil refineries: to show that Shell cannot get away with this and to encourage the people in the Ogoni area. ” read more

OGONI REMEMBERS KEN SARO WIWA’S MURDER 25 YEARS LATER AND RENEWS DEMAND FOR AUTONOMY

November 10, 2020

KorneBari Nwike

On November 10, 2020, the Ogoni people, in the homeland and in the diaspora, are poised to celebrate the 25^th Anniversary of the judicial murder of Ken Saro Wiwa and other Ogoni leaders with renewed calls for Ogoni autonomy. Twenty-five years ago, on November 10, 1995, Gen. Sani Abacha, bolstered by the Justice Ibrahim Auta tribunal and Shell Oil Company, impulsively murdered Ken Saro Wiwa, one of Africa’s finest and eight other Ogoni leaders for demanding Ogoni political autonomy within Nigeria. Ken Saro Wiwa was an acclaimed writer and Africa’s foremost environmentalist who lead the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP). read more

Nigerian farmers take on Shell in landmark oil spill case

OCT 9, 2020 10:15 AM PHT: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS

Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell faces a case over 3 spills which occurred in the 2000s around the southeastern Nigerian villages of Goi, Oruma, and Ikot Ada Udo

Lawyers for 4 Nigerian farmers accused Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell on Thursday, October 8, of causing widespread pollution in a landmark court case filed in the Netherlands.

The farmers first filed suit in 2008, demanding Shell clean up devastating oil spills in 3 villages in the Niger Delta, prevent further pollution, and pay compensation. read more

Kiobel vs Shell: 4 Nigerian women take on the corporate machine

Wednesday, July 5th, 2017

TOMORROW, a Dutch court will hear witnesses and examine the merits of a landmark case brought by Esther Kiobel and three other women with regard to what they claim was Shell’s involvement in the unlawful arrest, torture and execution of their husbands by the Nigerian military.

This follows a hearing in October 2019, where four people have accused Shell of bribing witnesses to testify against the men during their trial in the 1990s. read more

Any playback problem, use this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyjNnCOEowE

Press release 7^th September 2020

Ken Saro Wiwa Resurrection: Spirit of the Ogoni

November the 10^th 2020 is the commemoration of the 25^th anniversary of the execution of the environmentalist, author Ken Saro Wiwa and 8 others who became known as the Ogoni 9.

More than 25 years ago Filmmaker Nathan Achim Sheppard filmed and conducted an in-depth interview at Ken’s home in London about his life, work and struggle. read more

Ogoni and the Unforgettable History of State Brutality, By Fegalo Nsuke

21 August 2020

The Ogoni is daily in the news with reports of extra judicial killings, persecution, police repression, military torture and all sorts of human rights abuses. The conflict rages as the Nigerian oil industry seeks to adopt unsavoury measures to forcefully resume oil production in the area without the people’s consent.

The Ogoni people have become very familiar with the insincerity of the Nigerian oil industry, forcing a growing cynicism that continually creates distrust and conflict each time the Ogoni issue is mentioned. read more

By John Donovan

I wonder if the American Ballet Theatre is aware of the sinister background of its new benefactor, Hakluyt & Co – the corporate intelligence agency sometimes described as the commercial offshoot of MI6.

Titled Shell directors, the late Sir Peter Holmes, and Sir William Purves, were also directors, major shareholders and spymasters of Hakluyt & Company, a UK corporate espionage firm founded by former senior MI6 officers. BP directors were also involved. 

Shell used Hakluyt to engage in cloak and dagger operations against its perceived enemies, including Greenpeace, as exposed in a Sunday Times front-page lead article “MI6 ‘firm’ spied on green groups”. Continuing on to an inside page feature headlined “How agent Camus sunk Greenpeace oil protests”.  read more

18 JUNE 2020

Nearly 10 years after a clean-up was urged for areas polluted by Shell and other oil companies in the Niger Delta, work has begun on only 11% of planned sites while vast areas remain heavily contaminated, according to a new investigation by four NGOs.

In 2011 the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) released a report documenting the devastating impact of the oil industry in Ogoniland, and set out urgent recommendations for clean-up. But the new investigation highlights that “emergency measures” proposed by UNEP have not been properly implemented and that the billion-dollar clean-up project launched by the Nigerian government in 2016 has been ineffective. read more

MOSOP Allegations Against Shell

The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) wishes to strongly express its concerns over the visit by Shell officials in the company of Nigerian soldiers to Ogoni oilfields yesterday (April 30, 2020).

Eye witness accounts and credible community sources which monitored the activities have it that officials of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, yesterday visited some communities in Gokana local government including Biara and K-Dere inspecting pipelines in the area in view of possible reactivation of the oilfields for oil production. read more

FROM PAGES 28 & 29

These cases are important for what they mean for the individuals and communities involved. They could also set important precedents on the responsibility of companies for their overseas operations, which would open the way for further litigation not only against Shell but other multinational corporations as well.

They are also placing a much-needed spotlight on Shell’s business model in Nigeria.

Nigeria’s regulation of the oil industry is undoubtedly weak and lacks independence. Government agencies responsible for industry regulation and enforcement are under-resourced, ineffective and in some cases compromised by conflicts of interest. Its own courts have failed to offer the victims of human rights abuses a meaningful avenue for seeking justice for the oil spills that have blighted the Niger Delta and the lives and livelihoods of its communities. Shell has thus avoided being held effectively to account in Nigeria. read more

Thousands of barrels of oil spouted out of the broken pipeline at Bodo for 10 weeks before Shell finally clamped it on 7 November 2008. © CEHRD

Pastor Christian Kpandei contemplates the damage done to his fish farm in Bodo, Nigeria, May 2011. The farm flourished before the August 2008 oil spill, but the pollution destroyed his fish farm, leaving him and his workers without a regular income. © Amnesty International

3.2.1 FOUR FARMERS’ CASES

The first of the pollution-related cases marked the first time that any Dutch company had been sued in the Dutch court for the operations of its subsidiaries overseas.

In 2008, four Nigerian farmers (Eric Barizaa Dooh, Fidelis Ayoro Oguru, Alali Efanga and Friday Alfred Akpan), along with Milieudefensie, the Dutch section of Friends of the Earth, filed claims against RDS and SPDC.44

They are seeking to obtain compensation for alleged damage to fish ponds and land caused by oil spills from two underground pipelines and an oil well operated by Shell in the villages of Goi, Ikot Ada Udo and Oruma between 2004 and 2007.45 read more

Oil pollution in Kegbara-Dere (K-Dere) community in Ogoniland, Rivers State, Niger Delta, Nigeria. This community has experienced multiple oil spills since Shell started operations there in the 1960s. September 2015. © Michael Uwemedimo/cmapping.net

Shell’s pipelines in Ogoniland are old and poorly maintained. There have been several spills and in 2009 there was a huge fire, at the Bomu Manifold, at K. Dere, Rivers state. September 2015. © Michael Uwemedimo/cmapping.net

Dead periwinkles covered in oily mud from Bodo creek, Nigeria, May 2011. There were two massives spills in August 2009 from a poorly maintained Shell pipeline. © Amnesty International

Signboard warning people not to enter stream that has been contaminated by oil spills, Ogale, Rivers State, Nigeria. Every year there are hundreds of spills in the Niger Delta, and clean-up is often slow and ineffective. © Amnesty International

3.2 ENVIRONMENTAL CASES (Pages 16, 17, 18 & 10)

There are three separate legal proceedings taking place against Shell in Dutch and British courts relating to oil pollution. This has devastated the Niger Delta.

Data from Shell’s own spill incident reports reveal that from 2011-18 the company reported a huge number of spills – 1,010 – along the network of pipelines and wells that it operates.25 Spills have a variety of causes – from third-party tampering, to operational faults and corrosion of aged facilities. Shell blames most spills on theft and pipeline sabotage, and are not due to its own negligence.26 read more

The Ogoni Case is a Simple Demand for Basic Rights and Justice – MOSOP

Call for the Exoneration of Ken Saro-Wiwa and Others

The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) says all the Ogoni people want in Nigeria is respect for the rights of the people and justice. President of MOSOP, Fegalo Nsuke made this known yesterday in Port Harcourt in a speech to mark the 24th anniversary of the U.N Secretary General’s fact-finding mission to Ogoni which noted that the Special Tribunal which ordered the murder of Ken Saro-Wiwa had no jurisdiction to try Saro-Wiwa and the others.

Nsuke said it was shameful that Nigeria’s response to a simple and justifiable demand for basic rights and justice by the Ogoni people in Nigeria was repression by state security forces and the hounding by Shell through its agents which led to the death of thousands of innocent Ogonis. read more