BY Emma Amaize
WARRI—FURIOUS youths from Oleh in Isoko South Local Government Area of Delta State, chased away officials of the Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, from the Oleh/Olomoro flow station following their anger with the company for the sale of Oil Mining Lease, 30 on their land without their consent.

Vanguard learnt that the irate youths shot sporadically into the air when they stormed the flow station, beat up some Shell officials, as others took to their heels.

The company reported the action of the  youths to the police, which led to the arrest and detention for two days of the president of the Isoko National Youths, Ogaga Egbuwoku and his secretary.

Despite the intervention of the police, the land owners also visited the flow station again and damaged some Shell vehicles. It was gathered that the people were not happy that Shell undermined their rights in the sale of the oil fields.

Coordinator of the Niger Delta Survival Synergy, Okiroro Iki-Ebieroma told Vanguard, weekend, “the anger is not only over OML 30. Land owners in Isoko land are not happy with what appeared to be an underhand sale of OML 26, 30 and 42 by Shell against the lease agreements with them.”

While the communities are not against the divestment policy of the Federal Government, he said, they were against the sale of the oil fields to Shell officials and their cronies under the guise of indigenous participation.

According to him, “From Oleh, Olomoro, Enwe, Igbide among others, Isoko people are saying that they can afford to mine these leases on their own, so it should be given to them on the same terms and conditions they were given to the cronies brought by Shell officials, who conducted a hide and seek exercise.”

Vanguard learnt that efforts so far by the police to settle the dispute between Shell and the aggrieved communities had not yielded result, as the company said the divestment policy was that of the Federal Government, while the land owners said they should be allowed to acquire the oil fields on the same terms they were given to outsiders.