Okomu Oil Company Host Communities Protest Over Maltreatment in Edo State

The protesters drawn from the host communities of Gbelebu, Safargbo, Okomu, Oweike, Maikolo, etc, carried placards bearing inscriptions such as: ‘Govt tell Okomu Oil Company to open our road’; ‘Okomu Oil Company give us our fishing traps that are with you’; ‘stop polluting our stream with your agrochemical, it is our only source of drinking water’; ‘we are not terrorists, stop harassing us with the military, Okomu Oil’, accused the company of blocking and positioning fierce-looking military men on the only road that links them to Udo.

The protesters also accused the Edo State government of selling the whole land wherein they farm to the company thereby enslaving them, just as they lamented that they have nowhere to farm anymore in their land.

Speaking to the press shortly after the protest, the Fiyewei (spokesperson) of Okomu clan, Chief Sunday Ajele, said it quite unfortunate that the government of Edo State has joined in the enslavement of the people with continuous sales of the land wherein the native’s farm to a foreign company.

“The state government sells the land to multinational where this forest people farm and even trade. If you sell the land to multinationals, where do you want these people to survive? Ordinarily, we expected the state government to come to the aid of these host communities and question this multinational why the ill-treatment but unfortunately, the state government has joined them in the enslavement.

“A country that has a constitution, it is unfortunate that the constitution is not working. A country with laws yet the law is not working. The law protects only the rich while the poor who are the forest people that feed the nation are suffering. Everything we buy in the market comes from the forest,” he said.

On her part, Mrs. Biobokogha Pena-ere from Okomu said the company has put the communities into bondage through their maltreatment and harassment, lamenting that they can no longer fish nor farm.

“Okumu Oil Palm is oppressing us, intimidating us, we don’t have good road, we don’t have good water. We cannot kill the fish we used to kill before because they have used their chemical to spoil our river, so no fish. The petty business we do to survive, they have blocked the road to access urban cities, so we can no longer do our businesses,” Pena-ere lamented.

Also speaking, Chief French Yabike decried the activities of Okomu Oil Palm Company, alleging that the company has been busy evacuating their villages, just he further lamented that yet “in terms of employment nothing; talking about the scholarship, nothing, everything they promised, nothing was done.”

He said Okomu land is divided into two: area BC 9 and area BC10, and that the native is in BC 10, alleging that Okomu Oil Palm Company has crossed to BC 10 part of the land and intimidating them with the military.

“We are tired of the activities of Okomu Oil Palm Company. The company has been evacuating our communities. Some times ago, they came with soldiers to evacuate Lemon camp. After that they proceeded to Agbede community and evacuated them, and later extended to Oweike, they evacuated it too,” he said.

Also speaking, a chief from the Gbelebu community, Ejueyi Segun, said the only road linking the community and others has been blocked by the company, saying the company does not owe the road as claimed.

He said, “The company has blocked the existing road before the company was founded. Since 2019, the road has been under lock and today it been locked completely. They used COVID-19 as an excuse to finally lock up the road with a lockdown excuse. The alternative road is bad.

“The road the company is claiming is not its road, that road was constructed by British West Africa Timber Contractors of those days before Okomu Oil Palm was set up there.”

Engineer Lawani Dumofaye, from the Agbede community, said “Just of last week, our local farmers’ mills were being burnt down by Okomu Oil Palm Company. We have been suffering. Our streams are being polluted with their Agrochemicals. We are suffering. We are calling on the international community and the government to come to our aides. We have a lot of graduates in our communities but none is being employed,” he said.

Calls and WhatsApp messages sent to the Public Relations Officer of the company, Fidelis Olise were not replied to even after reading them.