the News

by Marco Simons

A UNITED States (U.S.) District Court yesterday rejected Chevron Corporation’s final bid to avoid prosecution over alleged involvement in brutal attacks on Nigerian villagers.
Nine Nigerian plaintiffs are suing Chevron in a federal court in San Francisco for deaths and other abuses in two incidents in 1998 and 1999, in which the Nigerian military and Police, paid by Chevron and using Chevron helicopters and boats, shot and tortured protestors and destroyed two villages allegedly associated with opposition to Chevron’s oil activities in the desperately poor Niger Delta.
The plaintiffs assert claims ranging from torture to wrongful death.
The Judge, Susan Illston, found “evidence that CNL (Chevron Nigeria Limited) personnel were directly involved in the attacks; CNL transported the GSF (Nigerian government security forces), CNL paid the GSF; and CNL knew that GSF were prone to use excessive force,” concluding that the evidence would allow a jury to find not only that Chevron knew the attacks would happen and assisted in them, but also that it actually agreed to the military’s plan.
“We’re pleased that our clients will finally get justice for Chevron’s crimes,” said plaintiffs’ counsel, Theresa Traber, partner at Traber & Voorhees. (more…)

BY FELIX ABUGU

For 20 years, she lived in America, 10 of them as a single parent who was abandoned with her three kids. Last month, she decided to visit home with her daughter and two sons, who were all coming to their fatherland for the first time in their lives. Barely 24 hours later, she was murdered in her father’s house, in rather very troubling circumstances. Was it a case of premeditated murder or armed robbery?
“MY mom is dead. My hard working, loving and caring mother has died. I don’t want this to be true but it is…She suffered a horrible death; she didn’t deserve to die that way.
“My mom hadn’t been back to her country in over 19 years. She was finally able to go, and took my brothers and I with her (it was our first time ever being here).
“Every day, she would talk about Nigeria; she would always tell us about Nigeria. She just wanted to visit her family that she hadn’t seen in so long and show us her country. She bought so many gifts for her family and had been preparing for this trip for a while.
“We arrived at our family’s home (our grand parents’ home in Ihiala, Anambra State ) at almost 12 midnight. On June 3, 2007, just the next day of our arrival, this terrible thing happened…” (more…)