By EricJames Ochigbo
A coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) has called on Nigerians and the international community to demand justice for the Niger Delta in its case against Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company.
The coalition in a news conference in Abuja on Monday, urged all stakeholders to reject Shell’s divestment, alleging that it was an attempt to escape justice and its uncompromising accountability.
In his remarks, the Executive Director of the Health of Mother Earth Foundation, Mr Nnimmo Bassey, stated that the Niger Delta had long been a brutalised sacrificial zone of fossil fuel colonialism
According to him, for more than seventy years, transnational oil companies led by Shell had extracted wealth from the land and waters, leaving behind poisoned creeks, flaring skies, and broken lives.
“We call on the Nigerian state and the international community to reject Shell’s attempts to escape justice and to affirm that environmental crimes must be met with uncompromising accountability,” he said.
Also speaking, the Chairman, Bayelsa Council of Traditional Rulers, King Bubarave Dakolo, said that a case had been instituted against Shell in the Federal High Court in Yenagoa.
Dakolo, who is the Traditional Ruler of Ekpetiama Kingdom, said that the case was not just about his kingdom but about justice for the entire Niger Delta.
According to him, the community is opposed to the divestment by Shell from its offshore asset. saying that it was tantamount to evading responsibility.
“Allow me to speak from personal experience; the gas flares from the Gbarain Gas Plant blaze day and night just outside my window.
“I live with the constant light that has obliterated the night, the noise, and the poison in the air. My people drink from polluted streams and farmlands laced with crude.
“Our children breathe soot. Our people now suffer from cancers and unexplained diseases that were unknown before oil came.
“We have been treated as collateral damage in the ruthless pursuit of oil wealth. Our lands are poisoned, our rivers destroyed, and our people silenced.
“We call on all well-meaning Nigerians, international observers, and justice-seeking people everywhere to follow this case closely. Let Shell know: the Niger Delta is not for sale,” he said.
On his part, the Programme Manager, Social Development Integrated Centre, Dr Prince Edegbuo, said that the centre had worked closely with frontline communities to expose systemic environmental and social injustices perpetrated by multinational oil companies.
Edegbuo said that the story of the Ekpetiama Kingdom was emblematic of the broader experience of communities across the region whose lands had been sacrificed on the altar of fossil fuel extraction.
According to him, the legal action against Shell is opportunity to shift the narrative away from impunity and denial toward accountability, redress, and repair.
“We must redefine what energy transition means for those who have borne the costs of extraction.
“Social Action Nigeria is proud to stand with the Ekpetiama people and other impacted communities.
“We support their legal chalienge and broader struggle for recognition and restitution. Nigeria must rise above capture by vested interest.
“Our systems of justice and governance must serve the people, not just a few corporate profiteers and their enablers,” he said.
He urged the judiciary, civil society, and the broader public to view the case as a watershed moment and the beginning of an era in which the living conditions of Nigerian citizens truly mattered(NAN