The Federal High Court sitting in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, on Monday, June 24, 2019, declined an application to stop Aiteo, an indigenous oil company, from renewing Oil Mining Lease, OML, 29.
The company’s host communities in Nembe Local Government Area of the state prayed the court to halt renewal of the oil license, which expires on June 30 pending the determination of a suit they filed against the oil firm.
The communities dragged Aiteo to court following alleged environmental degradation and implementation of social obligations by the firm.
Aiteo reportedly paid 82 million dollars to the Department of Petroleum Resources to commence the renewal process of the lease.
Ruling on the application filed by the communities Lawyer, Iniruo Wills, the court presided over by Justice Awogboro Abimbola rejected the application.
Abimbola adjourned the case to Sept 27 to hear applications of other parties seeking to join the substantive suit.
She said the court could not take applications of the parties seeking to join the suit because she was working to deliver 10 judgements before the court’s vacation scheduled for July 3.
About 40 chiefs from Nembe communities seeking to join the suit attended the court session.
The plaintiffs representing the OML 29 host communities are Ikaonaworio Eferebo-Igoma, Iyerite Chiefson Awululu-Atubu, Ayebaesin Edoghotu-Omoh, Markson Amaegbe-Orutari, B.C. Benwari-Yousuo and Doibo Evans.
The defendants are Attorney-General of the Federation, Minister of Petroleum Resources, Federal Ministry of Environment and Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria.
Others are Aiteo Exploration and Production Ltd, Attorney-General of Bayelsa State and The Deeds Registrar, Bayelsa State Ministry of Lands.
Members of Ogbolomabiri in Nembe and adjourning communities earlier filed applications for joinder in the matter.
Shell Petroleum Development Company in 2015, divested its equity in OML 29 and transferred its interest in the oil block, including NCTL for 1.7 billion dollars to Aiteo.
But the host community, said the divestment was done “without resolving the untold negative impact of their operations on the people”
Speaking after the court session, Wills noted that the interest of other Nembe communities showed that almost all the host communities to OML 29 were unanimous in the quest for welfare for the oil communities.
He said that the communities would remain law-abiding and await the decision of the courts on the pending case and hoped that the dependants would not jeopardise the ongoing court process.
“We will expect all the parties to act in good faith andawait the outcome of the court, and on the part of the defendants, we expect them to await the decisions of the court, so we don’t expect them to be mischievous and sabotage the court process,” Wills said.
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