By Kote Obe, Port Harcourt
Ebubu community in Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State has offered to donate a vast tracts of land used by illegal petroleum refinery operators to the Rivers State Government for development purposes.
The offer for the donation of the land was made by the traditional ruler of Ebubu, Emere Godwin Chinwi, during a courtesy call to the Chairman of Eleme Local Government, Chief Obarilomate Ollor at Ogale, the local government headquarters on Friday.
Emere Chinwi also proposed that the Rivers State government convert the notorious Trailer Park that was recently demolished by the government at Ebubu to an international market to put a final end to the activities of criminals that lurk around the area.
The offers followed the discovery of what has been considered the largest illegal refinery site at Akpa-Chara at Egbalor Community in Ebubu.
The Chairman of the local government had recently led an enforcement team to close down the refinery site at Akpa-Chara in compliance with a recent directive by the Rivers State government that local government chairmen close down all illegal refinery sites in their areas.
Read Also: Two Officers Killed as Terrorists Attack Military Base in Katsina
The traditional ruler said he was shocked that the site existed in an area of his community.
“That land belongs to Egbalor community but due to its distance from the community, we don’t often farm there and these bunkerers have taken over that place. As a community, we are giving you the mandate to go after the operators of that illegal mining site, arrest and prosecute them. We are also calling on the Executive Governor of Rivers State to take up that land and use it for any development project,” he said.
Chinwi commended the council chairman for his swift and positive approach to the issues of governance and for appointing Ebubu people as principal officers in his administration.
The council chairman, Ollor, assured Ebubu chiefs of his continued administration’s support and reiterated his commitment to fulfill all his campaign promises to the people.
He urged the traditional institution to be firm in offering leadership to the people and rally support for his administration.
Akpa-Chara is a rich and vast expanse of land with a body of water and oil palm plantation. It had been illegally occupied by illegal oil bunkerers whose operations of an artisanal refinery have polluted the environment and caused health hazards to people in the area.
