On Thursday, August 11, 2016, some villagers staged a demonstration outside a Chevron facility in Delta State.
The protesters demanded for better attention from the company as well as placements in Chevron.
During the protest, personnel of the Nigerian military were deployed to forestall any breakdown of law and order.
The demonstrators, mainly from Ugborodo village in Delta State, stayed outside the company’s depot, carrying placards conveying different messages.
President of the National Association of Itsekiri Graduates, Collins Edema, told AFP that, “The protest is fully on course.”
He said further that, “We have brought a DJ and traditional drums to make it more of a carnival event despite the fact that they are trying to use the military to terrorise us.”
Edema said that so far there have been no clashes between soldiers and protesters, who are camped outside the Chevron tank farm protected by a 10-foot (three-metre) concrete wall laced with barbed wire.
However, spokesperson of Chevron, Isabel Ordonez, said in a statement that, “We continue to engage with the protesters and other key community leaders and stakeholders, including the Delta State Government, and hope for a resolution of the situation shortly.”
Ugborodo, a fishing village in the country’s south, can only be accessed from air or by an hour-long boat ride through the mangrove creeks from the oil hub city of Warri. It is close to the Chevron facility.
