Moves by oil giants, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), to acquire lands from their host communities in Bonny and Port Harcourt have back-fired and the aggrieved communities are now in court demanding justice.
The affected communities are the Rumukwurushi in Port Harcourt and the Jumbo Major and the Brown Houses of Finima in Bonny.
In Port Harcourt, the land is being used by Shell as the official residence of its staff, especially expatriate workers, while the Bonny land measuring about 1,000 hectares is used as the company�s tank farm.
Already, the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt has ordered the company to pay N6 billion to its Rumukwurushi, Port Harcourt landlords for allegedly attempting to claim about 130 hectares of land they secured on lease through the back door.
Saturday Independent learnt that Shell got the massive land under a lease agreement in 1958. But the company later took steps to secure a Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) without the consent of the owners of the land, a move that provoked the communities into seeking redress in court.
It was not clear as at the time of filing this report when Shell obtained the C of O from the Rivers State government in the case of the Rumukwurushi land, but it was learnt that it got that of Bonny in 1998.
It was also learnt that between 1999 and now, the company had failed to pay its tenancy fees to the Bonny people, even after the families had written to them. Apparently, Shell was relying on its C of O.
“The last time Shell paid rent on the land was in 1995. We have even served them the required notice to determine the tenancy but unknown to the landlords, the Jumbos and the Browns, Shell had gone to obtain a C of O,” one of the counsel to the Bonny people, HRM Malla Sasime said in an interview.
He added that “they were granted a lease in 1958 by the landlords (in Port Harcourt) but Shell surreptitiously applied for and obtained a C of O for a land that was on lease. The court said that is not done anywhere.
“Now, there is even a bigger case hanging on their head in the Bonny Tank Farm where Shell has done a similar thing. The Rumukwurushi own was over 130 hectares; now we are talking of over 1,000 hectares, also on lease in 1958.
This is coming at a time that Shell is also battling with an image problem as it tries to prune its work force. The company is at the verge of sacking about 3,000 of its staff.
Only recently, the Ijaw Aborigines had also secured judgment to the tune of N1.5 trillion against the oil giants for its activities in Ijaw land since the inception of its oil exploration work in the area.
The company has since filed a stay of execution suit and expects the court to prevent Ijaw people from implementing the judgment.
Shell�s spokesman, Mr Precious Okolobo who reacted to the issues over the telephone told Saturday Independent that “we have already filed our notice of appeal and application for stay of execution of the judgment and the matter has been adjourned to February 27, 2008 for hearing of the application.
“We believe that, by the agreement signed with the plaintiffs, SPDC was given right to, among other things, sublet to Nigerian members of staff. We continue to enjoy cordial relations with our host communities and will play our role in the development of the area.”