DATELINE: IDJERHE
FROM: DOIFIE OLA & DAVID EIGHEMHENRIO
HIGHLIGHTS
Jesse is the principal town in Idjerhe clan within the Urhobo heartland of the Niger Delta. The town is about 55 kilometers from the Oil City of Warri, Delta State. On Saturday, October 17, 1998, the 32 communities in Idjerhe were thrown into unprecedented mourning when a pipeline carrying petrol exploded and killed over 500 people.
The estimated population of Jesse town is 7,000. The settlement is rural, with wet weather, typical of Ocean influenced areas of the Hot-wet Equatorial climate.
The indigenes of the locality are from the ethnic Urhobo nation. They are accommodative, law-abiding and live in harmony with neighbouring communities.
The community is situated on huge commercial crude oil deposit. The soil is acidic clay, habouring fresh water swamp forest. The vegetation is diverse and economic plants like the raffia and rubber thrive in large quantity. Palm trees grow well where the oil retains its original drainage. The people of the communities are mostly crop farmers, rubber tappers and fishermen and women. Some of the people are involved in service activities like petty trading, tailoring, bicycle repairing.
Despite the immense wealth beneath their soil, Jesse like all the communities in the Niger Delta remains poor, ancient and neglected. Educational opportunities are limited. There are two primary schools and a secondary school. The schools are dilapidated with grossly inadequate facilities. There also exists a primary health post, which is a mere symbol of primary health care delivery. There is a local market with few partially tarred single lane roads. Although there are electric poles all over the Jesse Town, there is no electricity. The people depend on water from the River Ethiope that separates Jesse from Sapele, a neighbouring town, for all their domestic use.
Their houses are mostly adobe types. There is no hospital.
BLACK SATURDAY
A direct victim of the Idjerhe fire, Mr. Onoriode Efenaya, now a patient at Nene Hospital, Sapele spoke to ERA. He said that the leak from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation's (NNPC) high pressure pipeline conveying petrol from the Warri Refinery in Southern Nigeria to Kaduna in North Nigeria was first noticed on Friday, October 16, 1998 by a farmer returning from the day's work. On getting home in Jesse, he broke the news to his kinsmen, many of whom spread the story and trooped to Atiegwo, site of the 16 inch pipeline.
Efenaya, a rubber tapper and farmer, was in the field on Saturday, October 17, 1998, close to the leaking pipeline. Around 1.00pm, he heard a heavy sound like that of a burst truck tyre. "It was a huge gbooom sound", he said. The entire area was soon engulfed in flames. He was knocked down by the force and only managed to crawl out of the immediate scene through the suffocating smoke and fire. A good Nigerian helped him to Nene Hospital. However, close to 500 others were not as lucky. They were roasted to death.
WHAT CAUSED THE INFERNO?
The immediate cause of the fire has yet to be established. Everyone, however, admit that prior to the fire outbreak, a leak had occurred and several people from the Idjerhe clan consisting of 32 communities had gone to Atiegwo either to fetch the fuel or simply to look at what was happening.
It is being suggesting that because the atmosphere was charged with
petrol fumes, even a little spark could have sparked off the fire. What
caused the "spark" is unknown. If someone saw it happen it is not probable
that such a person would be alive to tell the tale. There is the theory
that since some of those who went to fetch the fuel had iron buckets with
them these may have clashed and set off sparks. ERA also learnt that about
five minutes before the explosion, a helicopter belonging to Shell Petroleum
Development Company Nigeria Limited hovered over the place and reportedly
warned the people to leave the
place.
OFFICIAL NEGLIGENCE
Atiegwo, the explosion site, is about 1.125 kilometres from Jesse community. The pipe that burst runs parallel to River Ethiope and has two major footpaths to it from the road. The local people actively cultivate the area. Next to the buried fuel pipe is a gas pipe line about 15 meters away.
The massive flame from the leaking pipes has a base area of about 25 square metres. It is right inside a cassava farm, surrounded by rubber trees and the forest by the River Ethiope. The smoke from the fire has retained a huge dark cloud over the Jesse sky.
At the scene of the incident, the sight of charred remains of the victims shocked the ERA team. Days after the incident their remains stll littered everywhere. The dead included children, youths and adults. A majority of those burnt were women. Most were burnt beyond recognition. Jerry cans, basins and other items still litter the scene. Note that some of these were used to fetch water from the nearby river. ERA confirmed that the NNPC fuel pipe from Warri refinery passing through many communities in Idjerhe clan and others such as Amukpe, Jesse, Okpe, Mossogar through Ologbo down to Lokoja, was laid in the early 70s.
Under normal circumstances, the pipe ought to have been replaced because
it had out lived its usefulness. There also ought to have been an adequate
protective facility along the route. There were no regular check and maintenance
of the pipe, hence NNPC could not detect the leakage at Jesse on time.
The people may have decided to help themselves with the scarce commodity
that was oozing out and wasting. The NNPC and its joint venture partner
Shell and the military government did nothing to salvage the situation
when the leakage was reported. Rather, a Shell helicopter hovered round
the place, warning the people to leave the scene. The law enforcement agents
especially the police made the issue worse as they seized the petroleum
product from the poor villagers who managed to draw from the hot pipe instead
of chasing them away from the leaking spot that was a potentially dangerous
area.
MASS DEATH, MASS BURIAL
There has not been such an incident in Nigeria since 1956 when oil was discovered in Oloibiri in the Central Delta. About half of the cassava farm was completely razed, the rubber and the bush also partially burnt. A huge chunk of farmland has now been taken for mass graves.
A deep and wide grave of about 30 metres from the fire point was dug
and a pail loader brought by the Ethiope West Local Government Council
where the mass burial took place on Tuesday, October 20, 1998. Wheel barrows
and large bales of white linen cloth were used to convey the charred remains
to the pit .
DEADLY POVERTY
The Jesse fire disaster is a true and practical revelation of the acute poverty that the masses of Nigeria are immersed in due to the continued misrule by successive military regimes in Nigeria. The people, battered, deprived and famished in the midst of plenty are now in mourning. They are hopeless in a vast natural environment of hope. It would be recalled that Nigerians have now come to live with fuel scarcity without any meaningful efforts on the part of government to arrest the ugly trend. When petrol was not scarce in the past, the consciousness of rural dwellers of its importance was very low. When the military government, especially the immediate past government, neglected the refineries and deliberately created artificial scarcity to facilitate its perpetuation in power, petrol quickly became the proverbial black gold. It became sought after by all since it was seen as a quick source of income. This consciousness rose astronomically among Nigerians including poor farmers who form the base of the most neglected Nigerians by military tyranny.
STATE OF THE VICTIMS
Dr. Hastings Eduvie, Medical Director of Central Hospital, Sapele, the
nearest hospital to the Jesse people explained that on the day of the incident
40 people were rushed there. Of this number, 18 were immediately admitted
while the other 22 were treated and discharged. Out of the 18, seven died
and eight were removed by their relations for fear that they may be prosecuted
for sabotage on discharge. In Nigeria under successive military dictatorships,
including that of General Abubakar, the penalty for "sabotage" is death.
The medical director explained that those that died had severe burns.
They include Gladys
Temilero,36, Augustina Vincent, 33, and Ejowoke Enatamen,
18 .
As at Tuesday, October 20, only four patients were still at the hospital.
The four were: Blam Ewubamen, 21, a driver from Jesse, Mrs Caro Umukoro,
Doris Solomon from Jesse and Aruguane from Sapele On the next day, one
of the four lost his life.
The Medical Director noted that the Federal Government would settle
the bills of the patients. Unconfirmed reports had it that, Shell
and Chevron Nigeria Limited have made promises to donate antibiotics, infusions
and dressings to the hospital. Only the Delta State Government had
made good its promise to supply all the drugs so far administered on the
patients.
At Imene-Eferakeya Medical Centre, Amukpe, the nurse on duty, Miss Monical
Egagifo, told ERA that eight of the fire victims were admitted
but three of them died, while two were discharged by their relations for
fear of arrest and charge. Three people were still in the medical centre
when ERA visited. They were Onorude Futo, 17, student of Mossogor
Secondary, Mossogar. Uniokoro Goodluck, 18, student of Zicks Academy
Sapele and Okwo Fassa, 25 years old farmer, from Jesse.
Futo explained that, he was a victim of unnecessary anxiety.
That he went to Sapele for a funeral wake on October 16, 1998. While
returning the next day, he was enticed by the crowd he saw close to the
burst pipe and he went to catch a glimpse of the scene. About 100 metres
to the spot, he heard the sound of explosion and balls of fire filled the
whole place. He shouted "Jesus Christ", and found himself flying
over and through the flames. He later found himself by the roadside
and was immediately rushed to Nene Hospital by an unknown good Nigerian.
Futo's relation, Mrs. Victoria Odumaka, farmer, residing at Mossogar,
pleaded passionately for assistance in anyway possible. Mr. Matthew
Obligho, a teacher at Jesse Primary School, lamented the loss of lives
and described it as a disaster. He described the incident "was an
unforgettable one". He berated the government for creating artificial
scarcity of fuel. According to him, Jesse has nothing to show as
an oil producing community. He urged that urgent steps were not taken
by the government to comprehensively review the plight of Delta communities,
particularly that of the Idjerhe. He warned that if this were not
done the people "would be left with no option than to chase out the oil
companies from their lands and practically take their destiny as a people
in their hands". He later gave the name of the teacher who was burnt
in the inferno as Mrs. C. Okwere, who was also a staff of Jesse Primary
School, Jesse.
The Ovbioria family at Jesse, told ERA that they lost seven persons in the fuel fire. And that they were mourning their dead. Mr. Ovbioria also confirmed that many car owners who went to buy fuel from the villagers at the spot were burnt beyond recognition, while others were severly injured. Mr. J.E. Okoniteyi, the supervisor of the mass burial said that they found some car keys on the ground which were taken away by policemen.
ERA RECOMMENDATIONS
ERA recommends that:
i. New petrol pipes should be laid immediately to replace the affected
one and other petroleum products pipes across the country in similar condition
to the Jesse pipe. There should be adequate protective covering on incendiary
facilities.
ii. The Federal Government should treat and comprehensively rehabilitate
the survivors of the incidents.
iii. The Jesse community should be apologised to, profusely by the
Federal Government and it should be paid adequate compensation for the
massive loss of lives, farm, farmlands and the psychological and emotion
trauma they went through
iv. The lingering fuel scarcity should be addressed without further
delay.
v. We call for the setting up of high-powered judicial commission of
inquiry to look into the remote and immediate causes of the fire.
vi. Government and NNPC officials must stop accusing the villagers
of vandalisation when they have not done any investigation. The point of
the explosion is still inaccessible due to high flames as at Thursday October
22, 1998.
vii. We call on the media not to paint the local people of Idjerhe
as vandals and saboteurs.
viii. We call on NNPC and Shell to take steps to restore the destroyed
ecology of Idjerhe.
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