Saharareporters has learned authoritatively that the much anticipated legal fight between Shell Oil on the one hand and members of the Ken Saro-Wiwa family and 9 members of the Ogoni community on the other hand may no longer happen.
Our reliable sources said the oil company and the plaintiffs are vigorously pursuing an out-of-court settlement to avert a legal battle that many Nigerian and US-based activists had hoped for. “This legal case was meant to expose the dirty underbelly of Shell, a multinational oil behemoth,” said a disappointed Abuja-based lawyer and activist on learning about the settlement negotiation from our reporter.
Our sources said Royal Dutch Shell had stepped up its pursuit of a settlement agreement between it and individuals related to Ken Saro-Wiwa, the murdered leader of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni Peoples (MOSOP). The case is being heard in the US District Court of the Southern District of New York.
Though the amount involved in the proposed settlement was not disclosed, Saharareporters has been told that it was in the millions of dollars.
Saharareporters had earlier exclusively reported that Shell was seeking a settlement that would spare the company a devastating corporate disgrace for its connivance with the Nigerian military in the invasion, maiming and murder of prominent Ogoni activists in Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta region.
Our sources said the bulk of the settlement would go to awarding scholarships, empowerment of women and the provision of sundry facilities “for the weak and vulnerable in Ogoniland.”
It was unclear if the settlement takes into account the cleanup of the ecologically damaged farmlands and waters in Ogoniland, but our sources said the settlement would not preclude further legal action against Shell in US courts.
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content1'); });
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('comments'); });
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content2'); });