Nigeria:
The long arm of justice is finally catching up on Shell
On
June 9 Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth, Nigeria
(ERA/FoEN) has released a press statement describing the outcome
of the landmark suit instituted by Ken Saro Wiwa Jr and other Ogonis
accusing Shell of complicity in the execution of author and human
rights activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and other Ogoni leaders in 1995, among
other human rights abuses, as a significant milestone in the search
for justice in the bloody oil fields of the Niger Delta.
After
legal twist and turns lasting nearly fourteen years, Shell has been
forced to pay an out-of-court settlement put at $15.5 million to
the Ogoni plaintiffs who have struggled to hold the company accountable
for complicity in atrocities committed against the Ogoni people
in the 1990s, including the execution of Saro-Wiwa.
The
plaintiffs had in a suit instituted at a New York court, alleged
Shell financed, armed, and colluded with the Nigerian military forces
during the Sani Abacha years that used deadly force and conducted
massive, brutal raids against the Ogoni people in the Niger Delta.
After
the announcement of the settlement on Monday (June 8, 2009), Shell
in a hasty statement said its decision was “a compassionate payment
to the plaintiffs and the estates they represent in recognition
of the tragic turn of events in Ogoni land, even though Shell had
no part in the violence that took place.”
But
ERA/FoEN Executive Director, Nnimmo Bassey dismissed the company’s
claim in a statement issued in Lagos, insisting that “Shell’s sudden
decision to settle out of court is a clear indication that the company
is guilty of the atrocities alleged and much more.”
“This
development signals a ray of hope for the people of the Niger Delta
that Shell’s irresponsible acts which have violated their land and
livelihoods in the last five decades of oil exploration in the region
will not go unaccounted for. It is however sad that justice was
achieved not on Nigerian soil where innocent people of the Niger
Delta have been labeled criminals and vandals but in far away US.”
Bassey
said the Nigerian government should take a cue from the outcome
of the suit and compel Shell to commence immediate cleanup of pollution
of rivers, streams and farms with its obscene profits and account
for other human rights abuses that piled up before and after the
Saro Wiwa incident in 1995.
Another
phase of the legal campaign against Shell is billed for Shell’s
headquarters in The Hague, Netherlands, where the company faces
a legal action for repeated oil spills, brought by residents of
the Niger Delta, supported by Friends of the Earth Netherlands and
Friends of the Earth Nigeria.
“The
clear message to Shell is that no matter where how far it is headquartered,
the long arms of justice will get there. The subjugation of innocent
people and their environment will never go unnoticed and must be
accounted for. Shell may have ducked the dock this time around,
but it will surely have its day in the dock soon,” Bassey added.
Oilwatch
International’s coordinator, Keania Karikpo believes that Shell’s
claim of accepting out of court settlement on compassionate grounds
“is a big insult capable of flaring tempers in an Ogoni where the
people are beginning to enjoy peace in the absence of the corporation.
Their stance shows that this corporation is unrepentant”.
ERA
Press release, 9 June 2009, www.oilwatch.org
