Buhari To Appeal Ruling On Renewal Of Shell’s OML 11

President Muhammadu Buhari will appeal Friday’s ruling of the Federal High Court in Abuja ordering him to grant renewal of OML 11 to Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria for another 20 years, THE WHISTLER can report.

Justice Taiwo Taiwo had delivered the ruling in a suit instituted by Shell Nigeria against the Minister of Petroleum Resources who happens to be President Buhari. Also joined as a defendant in the suit was the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources.

The Nigerian Government had granted OML 11 to the oil company 30 years ago (1989) and which is due for renewal for 20 years following expiration of the initial license.

But a top NNPC source who confided in THE WHISTLER explained that the Nigerian Government or petroleum minister is at liberty to decline the renewal of an OML for any oil company especially when the national security of the country is threatened.

The source also explained that the oil field in contention (OML 11) which measures 3,095sqkm is three times bigger than the size of a standard oil block, hence cannot be approved for renewal by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).

Meanwhile, a group known as the Conscience of Ogoni People (COOP) has kicked against the judgment delivered by Justice Taiwo in favour of Shell Nigeria.

The group, in a statement by its National Coodinator, Chief Gani Topba, accused Shell of sponsoring insecurity in Ogoniland and threatened to mobilise against the oil company’s return to the region.

“Ogoniland is currently boiling in terms of insecurity orchestrated by violent clashes and bloodshed. Our men, women and young people are being killed daily. Communities are being sacked while houses and other properties worth billions of naira are being destroyed. The insecurity in Ogoniland has reached feverish pitch with the people now living in fear of the unknown.

“Our intelligence reveals that SPDC is the sponsor of the cult clashes that have shaken Ogoni to its foundation. The aim of SPDC is to stoke up crisis, cause division and to weaken our Ogoni spirit as well as to prevent us from forming a united front to fight this injustice. Our intelligence has also revealed that SPDC has only one agenda in its desperation to return to Ogoniland at all cost; and that is to finish the genocidal agenda which was begun since 1958 and reached its crescendo in the 1990s,” the statement read in part.