The one-week old massive protest embarked upon by the people of the four Eket core oil producing communities in Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria against the operation of Exxon Mobil, has been suspended.
A statement by representatives of the communities under the aegis of Eket Federal Constituency Vanguard said the suspension of the massive protests is to pave the way for recommencement of negotiations with top management staff of the oil company at the instance of the state government.
The Eket Federal Constituency Vanguard however insisted strongly that the protest will resume in full swing after 14 days, if the demands of the community are not satisfactorily resolved.
The statement reads in part that, “the peace-loving people of Eket Federal Constituency, being strong supporters of His Excellency Chief Godswill Obot Akpabio’s administration, have acceded to the request by the state government that the mass protest be stood down, pending a special intervention parley with His Excellency the Governor and the top management of Exxon Mobil.”
The statement endorsed by Isaiah Abia(Esit Eket), Williams Mkpah(Ibeno), Bassey Udoakpan(Eket) and Ime Utin(Onna) maintained that the community was totally “provoked by the apparent insensitivity and intransigence of Exxon Mobil, which led to her refusal to compensate the community after the November 2012 oil spill incident that affected the four oil producing local government areas.”
The Vanguard recounted that the community initially embarked on a warning strike from Monday October 21st, 2013 and thereafter on Thursday October 24th, commenced a full scale mass protest which resulted in the disruption of operations at the Mobil onshore facilities at Ibeno and Eket consecutively for one week.
However, following successive meetings with the Secretary to the State Government Mr Udom Emmanuel, who pleaded on behalf of the State Government, the community decided to demobilize her protesting youths and women, and to give peace a chance.
The statement further acknowledged the maturity and peaceful conduct of leaders, women and youths of the communities throughout the duration of the imbroglio, as well as the professionalism of security agencies which accounted for the peaceful nature of the protest.
The Eket core oil producing communities are asking among other things that the multinational oil firm fulfill her obligation of paying N26.5bn to make for the damages caused by “the 300 barrels of crude oil spillage of November, 2012” which resulted in mayhem on the economic lives of the coastal communities.
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