AGENE Godwin, Benin
The Federal Government has been dragged to the Community Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) by some aggrieved members of the oil producing community of the Niger Delta Region.
The aggrieved are asking the court to declare as unlawful and a violation of their Fundamental Right, the unilateral allocation of Crude Oil Blocs to private Nigerians and their firms.
The plaintiffs described the Federal Government’s action as a total disregard of the Rights of the people of the communities in whose lands the crude oil is located as entrenched in Article 21, 22 and 24 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (ACHPR), as well as Article 1 (1-3) of the United Nation’s International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and Article 1 (1-3) and 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).
The petitioners also want the court to direct the Federal Government of Nigeria to immediately pay $30billion being remedial damages for the immediate cleaning up exercise in the polluted Niger Delta region for the excess of nine million barrels of spilled crude oil as well as for the hazardous gas flaring over the last 50 years of oil
exploration and exploitation in line with the relevant article of the Africa charter on human and people’s rights, among others.
The plaintiffs, Mr. Nosa Ehanire Osaghae, Mr. Joseph Gbemre, Mr. Peter Aiko Obobaifo and Mr. Daniel Ikpomwosa, represented by Barrister Solomon Omobude who filed the case for themselves and on behalf of the Niger Delta People of Nigeria are also asking for a declaration that the unbridled oil exploration, gas flaring and resultant pollution and deaths of people in the Niger Delta region in the past 30 years which has led to severe environmental degradation and destruction without proper steps being taken by the Federal Government of Nigeria to prevent same is unlawful and a clear violation of their fundamental rights to life and the dignity of Nigerians living in the oil producing areas of the region.
This they contend, also affects their rights to self determination, right to healthy environment that contravened the provisions of article 1, 2, 4, 16 and 24 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples
Rights as well as article 1 and 6 of the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and that of article 1 and 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
The applicants also prayed the court for an order directing the Federal Government of Nigeria to immediately declare a Moratorium on all oil blocks transactions by suspending or ceasing all onshore and offshore oil blocs acquiring, awarding, leasing, renewing, prospecting, buying and selling in any form whatsoever pending the hearing and the determination of the substantive matter.
