The Federal High Court sitting in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, has granted an application seeking to amend the name of the defendant in an ongoing oil pollution lawsuit filed by the Opu Nembe Kingdom.
The ruling was delivered on Thursday by Justice Ayo Emmanuel after counsel to the plaintiffs, Chigozie Inwere, who stood in for Iniruo Wills, moved the motion for amendment during proceedings.
The court held that the request was valid and accordingly granted the amendment, allowing the corrected nomenclature of the defendant to reflect properly in the suit.
The case stems from a long-running legal dispute involving alleged environmental damage caused by oil spills in the Opu Nembe area.
It would be recalled that the court had earlier, on March 10, 2026, dismissed a preliminary objection filed by the defendant company, which challenged the way its name was presented in the suit.
The objection argued that the plaintiff wrongly described the company as Aiteo Eastern Exploration and Production Company Ltd instead of Aiteo Eastern E & P Company Ltd.
Read Also:
- Bayelsa State declares Friday work-free day ahead of President Tinubu’s visit
- Tinubu set to commission Bayelsa 60MW Power Plant as state confirms project near completion
- Court remands suspected killers of Bayelsa real estate agent in prison
The oil firm, Aiteo Group, operates in the area following its acquisition of Oil Mining Lease (OML) 29 from Shell Petroleum Development Company in 2015.
The lawsuit, filed by the Opu Nembe Kingdom on August 15, 2024, is seeking environmental justice and damages amounting to ₦122 billion over multiple oil spill incidents.
The spills in contention reportedly occurred in September and October 2019 along the Nembe Creek Trunk Line (Botokiri axis), another at Santa Barbara Well 1, and a further incident in May 2020 at Well 9 in the Odeama Creek Oil Field.
The plaintiffs, led by traditional and community representatives, allege that the incidents were caused by operational negligence and resulted in severe environmental degradation, loss of livelihoods, and long-term damage to the ecosystem.
In the suit marked FHC/YN/CS/284/2024, the community is also asking the court to declare the oil spills a result of operational failure and to compel appropriate remediation measures.
