society
Enough Is Enough”: Elem Kalabari Rises Against Decades of Injustice, Women Stage Peaceful Protest
“Enough Is Enough”: Elem Kalabari Rises Against Decades of Injustice, Women Stage Peaceful Protest
By: Al Humphrey Onyanabo
For decades, Elem Kalabari has borne the burden of Nigeria’s oil wealth without tasting its benefits. Its rivers have carried crude oil to the Atlantic; its land has hosted pipelines, flow stations, and gas facilities; its people have inhaled fumes, watched their waters darken, and their livelihoods collapse.
Yet opportunity, justice, and inclusion have consistently flowed elsewhere. On Monday February 2, 2026, that long-suppressed pain found a powerful voice.
Defying a heavy morning downpour, hundreds of women from Elem Kalabari poured into the Cawthorne Channel 2 Jetty in what many now describe as the “Mother of All Protests.”
It was peaceful, disciplined, and resolute—but unmistakably firm.
This was not noise. It was a declaration. Placards told the story words alone could not fully carry: “We Carry the Burden, They Take the Benefits.”
“Our Sacrifice, Their Gain: When Will Elem-Kalabari See Justice?”
“Local Content Law Violated: Kalabari Demands First Right of Refusal.”At the heart of the protest lies a single, bitter truth: exclusion has become systemic.
A Broken Promise in OML 18
The immediate trigger was the recent award of the OML 18 pipeline security and surveillance contract by NNPC Eighteen Limited to Manton Engineering Limited—a company neither from Elem Kalabari, nor from Rivers State.
To the protesting women, this was not merely an administrative decision. It was another chapter in a long history of betrayal.
Under Nigeria’s Local Content Law and the Petroleum Industry Act, host communities are guaranteed the right of first refusal in contracts directly affecting their territory. Yet this right, the women insist, was ignored.
Even more troubling is the contradiction embedded in the law itself. Section 257(2) of the Petroleum Industry Act places responsibility for sabotage on host communities—yet when it comes to securing their own territory, those same communities are excluded. “How can a people be blamed for insecurity,” one protester asked, “and then denied the right to secure their own land?”
Rivers That Carry Wealth, Communities That Carry Pain
Elem Kalabari is not just another oil-bearing community. It is the export artery of OML 18.
Crude oil from Cawthorne Channels 1, 2, and 3, Awoba, and Krakrama is evacuated exclusively through Elem Kalabari waterways to the Atlantic Ocean. Without these rivers, there would be no barging route—no export. Yet the women revealed a staggering injustice: none of the vessels used in these daily operations belong to Elem Kalabari. None belong to Kalabari people. None even belong to Rivers State. No courtesy visits. No engagement with the Amanyanabo. No sense of obligation to the host community—despite operations generating millions of dollars daily.
“What flows through our waters enriches others,” said a woman leader “But when it comes to opportunity, our people are treated as strangers on their own land.”
Educated Children, Locked-Out Futures
Perhaps the most painful testimony came when the women spoke of their children. Many told stories of sacrifice—years of trading, fishing, and borrowing to send sons and daughters to universities—only for those graduates to return home unemployed, watching companies operate profitably on their ancestral land.
Those fortunate enough to secure employment fared little better.
Workers who had previously been full staff under the former operator, Eroton, were reportedly downgraded to contract staff under NNPC Eighteen Limited. Their pay dropped. Job security vanished.
Working conditions worsened.
In what the women described as the ultimate insult, workers allegedly brought in from Lagos were trained by these local employees—only for the trainees to be offered permanent roles, while the locals remained on contract.“It is not just unfair,” one woman said quietly. “It is humiliating.”
Environmental Destruction, Official Silence
While contracts and jobs disappear, pollution remains. Oil contamination has been reported repeatedly in Mbi-Ama, Moni-Kiri, Portuguese Kiri, and Jacob-Ama—areas affected by constant barging and operational discharge. Marine life has dwindled. Fishing yields have collapsed. Mangroves continue to die.
Reports have been filed. Complaints have been made. Yet regulatory agencies, mandated to investigate and sanction offenders, have taken little or no meaningful action. To the women, this silence feels like complicity. A First-Hand Account of Despair.
A First Encounter with Abandonment
My first visit to Elem Kalabari on 1st January, 2025 remains a haunting reminder of how thoroughly a people can be forgotten in the midst of plenty.
I visited in the company of The Amanyanabo of Elem Kalabari, Da Amakiri Tubo, Alhaji Mujahid Abubarkr Dokubo-Asari, Dabaye Amakiri 1. It was on January 1st 2025, the day after he received the staff of office from Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
What we met was not a community benefiting from decades of oil extraction, but a landscape of utter devastation, neglect, and grinding poverty.
Elem Kalabari was wrapped in darkness—total, suffocating darkness. There was no public electricity, no streetlights, not even basic solar lamps that have become commonplace in remote settlements across the Niger Delta. Night fell early, and with it came an overwhelming sense of isolation, as though the community had been cut off not only from development, but from national consciousness itself.
There were no schools to nurture young minds.
There were no clinics to tend to the sick, the pregnant, or the elderly.
There was no market, no organised economic space, no visible engine of local commerce.
What stood in place of social infrastructure was emptiness—broken structures, abandoned land, and a silence that spoke of long years of disappointment. This was a community sitting at the heart of Nigeria’s oil wealth, yet living as though the nation’s prosperity flowed around it, never through it.
It became painfully clear that the oil companies operating in and around Elem Kalabari had taken the people for granted for far too long. Their pipelines crisscross the land, their barges dominate the waterways, their wealth moves daily through Kalabari rivers—yet the human beings who bear the environmental cost have been left with nothing to show for it.
That visit stripped away any illusion. It revealed a truth the women of Elem Kalabari now proclaim with courage and clarity: neglect has become policy, and exclusion has been normalised. What we saw was not underdevelopment by accident, but abandonment by design.
And today, the people—especially the women—are saying with one voice: enough is enough.
At night sitting on the jetty, surrounded by mosquitoes in search of cellular network, I saw across the sea, vessels loading crude oil, I watched as others left. I saw the gas flares… It was a sight.
A Line Drawn in the Sand
The women have vowed to sustain their protest until justice is done. They have warned that if ignored, they will escalate actions, including shutting down operations at the flow station.
For Elem Kalabari, this moment marks a turning point.
After decades of neglect, the people are no longer whispering their pain. They are standing, together, and saying clearly—to government, to corporations, and to the nation:
Enough is enough.
There needs no telling. This is the first of many protests that will happen. The people have their backs to the wall and can’t take it no more. I can’t blame them, they have suffered for too long.
By: Al Humphrey Onyanabo,
The PEN
Tel: 08109975621
Email: [email protected]
society
OWUTU FM 2026 Ramadan Lecture: Sheikh Jamiu Asanbe Urges Muslims to Avoid Showboating in Worship
OWUTU FM 2026 Ramadan Lecture: Sheikh Jamiu Asanbe Urges Muslims to Avoid Showboating in Worship.
The Chief Imam of Agelete Central Mosque, Ikoyi Lagos, Alhaji Jamiu Asanbe, has urged Muslims to remain sincere in their acts of worship and avoid the temptation of seeking public praise for good deeds.
The respected Islamic scholar gave this admonition while delivering a lecture at the OWUTU FM 2026 Ramadan Lecture, held on Saturday, February 28, 2026, in Lagos.
Speaking on the importance of sincerity in Islam, Sheikh Asanbe cautioned Muslim faithful against what he described as “showboating” — the practice of performing charitable acts or religious duties merely to gain recognition or admiration from others.
According to him, every act of worship in Islam must be done purely for the sake of Almighty Allah.
He explained that while acts such as prayer, fasting, and charity are fundamental pillars of faith, their true value lies in the intention behind them.
The cleric therefore encouraged Muslims to remain genuine in their devotion and avoid mixing their faith with the desire for worldly praise or attention.
Sheikh Asanbe also reminded the faithful that the holy month of Ramadan presents a unique opportunity for spiritual renewal. He urged believers to increase acts of generosity, particularly by supporting the needy, vulnerable members of society, and orphans.
Earlier in her remarks, the Convener of the Ramadan Lecture and CEO of OWUTU FM, Hajia Adejoke Muyibat Balogun, encouraged attendees to use the sacred month as a time for reflection, self-improvement, and community development.
She described the lecture theme as carefully selected to promote spirituality, strengthen faith, and encourage peaceful coexistence within the community.
Balogun expressed appreciation to the numerous guests and supporters who attended the event, noting that their presence reflected the strong bond within the community.
She further reaffirmed OWUTU FM’s commitment to sustaining the annual Ramadan Lecture, praying for Allah’s continued guidance and mercy in the years ahead.
The 2026 edition of the Ramadan Lecture attracted dignitaries and representatives from various organisations including Uzamot Communications, Okutex Fabrics, and the Yeye Asiwaju of Ojota Kingdom.
The event also featured engaging activities such as a quiz competition, where winners were presented with gifts. In the spirit of Ramadan, iftar meals were shared with guests, reinforcing the values of unity, generosity, and compassion that define the holy month.
Through initiatives like this, OWUTU FM continues to play a vital role in promoting faith-based dialogue, community engagement, and social harmony.
Tinubu Abroad, Nigeria in Chaos: The Spectacle of Elite Excess
By George Omagbemi Sylvester
“Government officials queue to bid him farewell as he departs, only to rush ahead and line up again to welcome him at his destination; a stark display of misaligned priorities in Nigerian leadership.”
Wednesday, March18, 2026
In a spectacle that has plunged Nigeria’s political class into fresh ignominy, a long line of federal ministers, governors, senators and political hangers‑on queued outside a London hotel this week to welcome President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR upon his arrival in the United Kingdom for a two‑day state visit.
Not only did these government officials send off Mr. Tinubu as he departed Nigeria (a ritual in itself excessive given the scale of pressing national crises) they rushed ahead to London to line the halls of his hotel, applauding and greeting him like conquering heroes arriving on foreign shores. This is how Nigeria’s elites now comport themselves while millions of citizens endure ever‑deepening hardship.
A Travesty of Priorities
Tinubu’s visit to the UK, hosted by King Charles III and Queen Camilla, is officially billed as an effort to deepen trade relations, attract investment and strengthen bilateral cooperation between Britain and Africa’s most populous nation. While those diplomatic objectives in theory could benefit Nigeria, the optics of an entire political class fawning over a president abroad are unbearably grim against the backdrop of domestic suffering.
According to recent economic analysis, despite macroeconomic adjustments such as ending fuel subsidies and floating the naira, more than 60% of Nigerians still live in poverty and daily hardships are rampant. Security remains a grave concern with violence and banditry destabilising large swathes of the country. Instead of addressing these crises with urgency, Nigeria’s leadership appears fascinated with photo‑ops overseas.
“A System of Self‑Centred Elites”
Critics within Nigeria have not minced words. Political observers describe the spectacle as a display of self‑centred politics divorced from the realities facing ordinary citizens. One observer on social platforms summed up the broader sentiment: “Tinubu represents a system of self‑centred elites (elite consensus over popular will) and this is exactly the performative politics that lines like these embody.”
Dr. Godfrey Mwakikagile, a respected African scholar on post‑colonial governance, has long warned that bad leadership and lack of accountability are Africa’s greatest challenges. “Power in many African states is too centralised and concentrated in the hands of elites who use it to perpetuate themselves at the expense of the public good,” Mwakikagile recently argued; a critique that resonates all the more when ministers fly abroad not to pursue tangible policy but to line up like admirers.
The Cost of Foreign Pageantry
This isn’t the first time Tinubu’s foreign engagements have attracted scrutiny. His administration’s frequent travels (often with large entourages) have drawn criticism for prioritising optics over outcomes, especially when Nigeria’s economy contracts and its people struggle with food inflation and insecurity.
Former presidential candidate Peter Obi has been among the most vocal domestic critics of these priorities, noting that Tinubu’s extensive foreign travel (including to the UK) distracts from urgent national needs and has become a “matter of grave concern.” Obi insists that such actions reveal a leadership more interested in global visibility than domestic wellbeing.
Nigeria Jagajaga!
The phrase “Nigeria jagajaga” (loosely translated as Nigeria being in disarray) has never felt more apt. A nation where ministers greet presidents in plush foreign suites while citizens queue for food and services is a country deeply out of balance.
Instead of being welcomed like dignitaries abroad, ministers and governors should be at home addressing the root causes of Nigeria’s struggles: insecurity that displaces communities and kills livelihoods, an economy that leaves the majority impoverished despite reforms, and the persistent failings of governance that erode public trust.
What Nigerians Deserve
President Tinubu and his entourage should be judged not by the number of ministers who lined up to greet him in London, but by the lives changed back in Nigeria.
As scholars like Mwakikagile and critics like Obi remind us, political leadership must be accountable and grounded in service, not spectacle. Nigeria’s leaders owe the people more than applause at international hotels; they owe them safety, economic opportunity, and genuine progress.
If this nation is ever to break free from the cycle of “jagajaga,” then those in power must demonstrate sincerity, not pageantry; action, not admiration. The lines outside a London hotel are not a testament to leadership; they are a testament to where Nigeria’s priorities have tragically come to rest.
GENERAL BULAMA BIU MOURNS VICTIMS OF BORNO ATTACKS, CALLS FOR UNITY AND VIGILANCE**
In a solemn and heartfelt message, Major General Abdulmalik Bulama Biu (Rtd), mni, the Sarkin Yakin Biu, has expressed profound grief over the recent tragic incidents of bomb explosions in Maiduguri and renewed violent attacks in several communities across Borno State.
This was contained in a statement he personally signed and made available to the press.
The retired senior military officer described the assaults which affected areas including Ngoshe, Mandiragirau, Ajiri, and Buratai as “cruel and most barbaric,” particularly as they occurred during a period of deep religious observance for many residents. General Biu extended his condolences to His Excellency, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum, the Executive Governor of Borno State, the people of the state, and especially the immediate families of the victims.
“These unfortunate attacks have painfully led to the loss of innocent lives and destruction of properties, a painful reminder of the challenges we continue to face as a people,” he stated.
General Biu prayed that Almighty Allah grants the deceased eternal rest (Jannatul Firdaus) and grants the injured a speedy recovery. He also commended the bravery and swift response of security agencies and emergency responders, acknowledging their tireless efforts to protect lives and restore peace in the state.
Addressing the resilient people of Borno, including elders, community leaders, associations, and the vibrant youth, General Biu urged steadfastness, unity, and increased vigilance. “Let us once again rejig our commitment and ensure we overcome this development. We have done it in time past, we can still do it now together,” he emphasized.
He further called on citizens not to allow “these cowardly acts to break our spirit or weaken our collective resolve to achieve lasting peace and stability.”
In strong terms, General Biu declared his solidarity with Governor Zulum, the state government, stakeholders, and all well-meaning citizens in condemning the attacks. He concluded his message with a prayer: “May Allah (SWT) bring lasting peace to Borno State and the entire nation.”
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