Aside the damage already inflicted on its platform by Niger Delta militants, Shell Petroleum has been dragged to British court by two communities in the region.

The communities, Ogale and Bille in Rivers state, have jointly filed a suit which is being heard by the Britain’s High Court.

Shell engineer

The communities accused the Anglo-Dutch Shell of fouling the waters and destroying lives of farmers through its oil exploration for decades.

They said that the Shell’s subsidiary had operated in Niger Delta since the 1950s.

The communities took the battle to Shell’s home they do not have confidence in Nigerian courts which they alleged were “too corrupt’’ and were likely to subvert justice.

According to local reports, Mr. Emere Godwin Bebe Okpabi is acting on behalf of the communities.

“Let the shareholders of Shell who are residents of the advanced world, like Britain, let them see a representative of a kingdom that is being destroyed for them to have money,” Okpabi, leader of Nigeria’s Ogale people said.

“That’s blood money.” “My system cannot give me justice,” Okpabi said.

“There is only one place that can give me justice. That is why I am here.”

London law firm Leigh Day is handling the cases after it won a landmark agreement from Shell to pay $83.5 million in compensation to the Bodo community for damage caused by oil spills in 2008 and 2009.

Shell originally offered $50,000 before the Bodo took their case to the same U.K. court.

They want to hold Shell, incorporated in the U.K., responsible for the actions of its Nigerian subsidiary, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd., or SPDC.

The subsidiary said it has produced no oil or gas in the region since 1993.

The area is heavily affected by crude oil theft, pipeline sabotage and illegal refining.

It is arguing in court that the legal challenge is speculative and full of “legal and evidential weaknesses.”

SPDC, the operator of a joint venture between the Nigerian government, Shell and two other oil companies, said it will challenge the jurisdiction of the U.K. courts in this case, arguing that it concerned Nigerian plaintiffs, in dispute with a Nigerian company over issues in Nigeria.

“If the Claimants’ lawyers are correct as to the existence of this novel duty of care, (Shell) and many other parents of multinational groups will be liable to the many hundreds of millions of people around the world with whom their subsidiaries come into contact in the ordinary course of their various operations,” the company said in its court argument.

“That would constitute a radical if not historic expansion of the law and open the floodgates to litigation on an unprecedented scale.”

The resurgence of militant groups in May has dealt a big blow to the activities of Shell and other International Oil Companies (IOC).

The damage to oil facilities had caused a dip in the production, recording a record low of one million barrels a day.

The recent olive branch through dialogue has brought about some peace thus shooting up production to 1.9 million barrels as confirmed by the Petroleum minister of state, Ibe Kachukwu.