First Military Governor of Rivers State and Monarch of Twon-Brass Community, Alfred Diete-Spiff has escaped death by whiskers, after he was chased out of palace, after protest against Agip Oil turned violent.
It was gathered that the Amayanabo (King) of Twon-Brass effort to persuade the protesters to discontinue their protest was resisted, with the angry protesters alleging that the monarch was complicit in several efforts by Agip to short-change the community, saying they no longer have confidence in his representation in talks with the oil firm.
picture of Former President Goodluck Jonathan destroyed by the protesters
The protest however took a twist as the monarch was forced to flee his community which hosts Agip’s Crude Export Terminal, after he was sacked from the community by the irate protesters.
Heritage Times gathered that the angry protesters ransacked the palace. Pictures of former President Goodluck Jonathan and other family members were also destroyed by the marauding protesters.
The protest which has been on since last week, has disrupted activities at the office premises of the oil firm on the Brass Island where members of the community comprising women, youths, and elders occupied and blocked access to Agip’s operational office demanding immediate restoration of power after two months of outage.
Diete-Spiff had tried to persuade the settlement to discontinue their protest while talks with the multinational company continue in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, but the protesters rebuffed appeals from him and chased him out of his palace.
The aggrieved members of the community who had blocked access to the oil firm’s office, strongly resisted the appeal by the monarch and became restive and began hauling missiles at the traditional ruler who was quickly whisked away to prevent lynching.
The 78-yaer-old monarch is reportedly taking refuge at the neighbouring Okpoama Community, also in Brass Local Government Area.
Edward Edison, Youth President of Twon Brass, while stating that the timely intervention of the youths and armed security agencies deployed to the oil firm averted violence, added that a 24-year-old was shot in the process.
He explained that the monarch had to leave the community in a hurry to avert escalation of the situation as the residents vowed to remain in the premises of Agip until power was restored.
The protests by members of the Agip host community had disrupted activities at the oil firm’s office premises located on Brass Island, near the Atlantic coastline.
Ms Cioni Maririna, a Media Relations Official at Eni, the parent company of Nigeria Agip Oil, declined comments on the development when contacted.
