Oil Blocks: Niger Delta Drags FG To ECOWAS Court

Buhari

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, asking the court to declare as unlawful and a violation of their fundamental right, the unilateral allocation of crude oil blocks to private Nigerians and their firms by the respondent.

The plaintiffs described the federal government’s action as a total disregard to 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 Right (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 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 contended also affect their rights to self determination, right to healthy environment.