By Simon Adewale

Sapele Okpe community in Delta State has sent an SOS to the Orodje of Okpe Kingdom, His Royal Majesty, Orhue I, over the N150 million that was  allegedly paid by Proton Energy for a community’s land it acquired to build its gas-fired power generation plant in Ogorode, Sapele, in Sapele Local Government Area of the state.

At a press briefing in Sapele, affected families said it has  been an age-long practice that whenever oil and gas companies intend to use swamp land for their operations, they compensate the affected families though the community leader, who will now further distribute the funds to affected families.

Alleging that the funds have been diverted by some unnamed persons, they said the affected families have not been compensated.

They also reminded the royal father of his speech at the ground-breaking ceremony where the Orodje advised a couple of families, who had legal issues over the land where the plant is situated to withdraw such cases from court and give Proton Energy uninterrupted access to the site.

They said they accepted the Orodje’s advice in the hope that the N150 million naira will resurface, lamenting that up till now nothing has happened.