ODAHIEKWU OGUNDE, Yenagoa
Protest by residents of Twon-Brass community in Bayelsa State has yet to abate despite claim by Eni, Italian parent company of the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC), that it has restored power supply to the area.
Residents of the oil-bearing community of Twon-Brass had on May 14, 2021 staged a peaceful protest, occupying and blocking access to Agip’s Brass terminal gate to demand restoration of power supply having been plunged into darkness for over two months.
Activities at the oil firm’s office on Brass Island and other economic activities have been halted by the protest as protesting residents compelled all business outlets in the area to close shops in solidarity.
The peaceful protest, however, turned violent on May 19, 2021 when the palace of the Paramount Ruler of Twon-Brass Kingdom, King Alfred Diette-Spiff, was vandalised and 24-year-old protester was allegedly shot and others injured by soldiers deployed to maintain law and order in the area.
Diete-Spiff, the first Military Governor of old Rivers State and the Chairman of Bayelsa State Council of Chiefs, had reportedly gone to appeal to the protesters to disperse while their grievances were being discussed with NAOC.
But the angry protesters attacked the monarch who was later whisked away by security operatives after his vehicle and home were destroyed.
Eni, in a statement on Saturday, said the ongoing protest over power outage at Twon-Brass host community did not adversely affect oil export.
The Agip’s parent company said: “An electrical cable connecting the terminal to the community was damaged by a lightning bolt, therefore the community without electricity. This led to peaceful protests at the Brass terminal gate.
“The repair job has been done on urgent basis and power to the community has been fully restored on Friday.
“Production has not been impacted and we expect the normalisation of operations in the next few days.”
However, a resident of Twon-Brass, Mr Taribalalate George, who spoke on the telephone from the community, said the power situation was yet to stabilise hence the people were still at the protest site.
George stated: “As we speak, there is no power in Twon-Brass but they brought the light on Friday. It has been going off and on and we are suspicious that it is a ploy to disperse the people while the power issue persists.
“The protest is still on because we have so many issues bordering on Agip’s neglect of their social obligations as spelt out in our Memorandum of Understanding. It was the issue of a power outage that sparked off the protest and we insist all other issues are resolved as well.”
He explained that the community leaders and some government officials were expected to come to the protest site at Agip’s terminal gate to interact with the protesters and update them on progress made in the negotiations but they had yet to show up.