The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) has expressed some disappointment over the British Supreme Court ruling on Nigeria’s oil spill case instituted by some communities in the Eleme area of Ogoni.
Speaking this morning in an interview with the Voice of America, President of MOSOP, Fegalo Nsuke, said the ruling was “disappointing and unfortunate:. Nsuke however noted that the agitation to hold Shell to account for its crime in the Niger Delta and Ogoni in particular is ongoing and will be prosecuted until justice is achieved.
Nsuke said “I think it is a real setback for the struggle of the Ogoni people but acknowledged that the struggle is ongoing”.
“The case gave us some hope that Shell will somehow be held to account but unfortunately, that chapter has been closed and by the United Kingdom’s supreme court judgment”
“The judgment is victory for Shell and pain for the Ogoni people and that is unfortunate” Nsuke said.
Reuters reports says the case was one of a series of legal battles Shell has been fighting in London courts against residents of Nigeria’s oil-producing Niger Delta, a region blighted by pollution, conflict and corruption related to the oil and gas industry.
The action stemmed from the leakage of an estimated 40,000 barrels of crude oil on Dec. 20, 2011, during the loading of an oil tanker at Shell’s giant Bonga oil field, 120 km off the coast of the delta.
A group of 27,800 individuals and 457 communities have been trying to sue Shell, saying the resulting oil slick polluted their lands and waterways, damaging farming, fishing, drinking water, mangrove forests and religious shrines.
