Shell: Things fall apart as four brothers fight over GMoU board chairmanship in Bayelsa community

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Bilabiri II, a sleeping community in Ekeremor Local Government Area of Bayelsa state is currently embroiled in a deadly crisis over who becomes the next Board Chairman of the Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMoU) between Shell and host communities of Mein Cluster Location.

Those deeply involved in the power tussle are four children of one Chief Robert Deboh, our checks had revealed.

The four warring sons of Chief Deboh includes, Mr. Ati Deboh, Mr. FridayDeboh, Mr. Endurance Ebimobowei Deboh and Emmanuel Deboh.

Our correspondent learned that out of the four brothers, Emmanuel Deboh is of a different mother while the remaining three are of the same mother; a record which was later collaborated by one of the warring parties, Emmanuel Deboh.

Narrating his ordeal to our correspondent on his bedside in one of the hospitals in Yenogea, Bayelsa state, where he is currently receiving medical treatment, Emmanuel Deboh who is, however, of a different mother stated thus;

“Before now I was deprived Community benefits such as contracts, jobs opportunities, environmental hazards, compensations from oil companies and government, and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) amongst others just because I’m not attending White Garment Church with them.

According to him; “Trouble started in the oil-bearing community when one of the brothers, Mr. Ati Robert who had been Chairman of the Board of Mein Cluster GMoU for the past ten years, chose his younger brother, Endurance Deboh, who is also the incumbent Community Development Committee CDC chairman of the Bilabiri 2 community, to succeed him.

A development that was considered by the stakeholders to be against the SPDC Operation And Procedures Guideline (OPPG) Act.

We also gathered that the attempt by the outgoing GMoU Board chairman to have his younger brother succeed him met stiff opposition from his half-brother, Emmanuel Deboh.

The situation, they further gathered, triggered off an alleged assassination attempt on Emmanuel Deboh who narrowly escaped death.

Lamenting ordeal, he hinted that peace eluded him the day he opposed his half-brother’s plan to make his younger brother succeed him.

Emmanuel alleged that he had been receiving series of threat calls and warnings of assassination because of his position on the matter since on the 1st of Feb, 2018.

Emmanuel who was in a painful mood all through the period with our correspondent  also alleged that one out of his brothers conspired with few persons in the community and conveyed a secret meeting in undisclosed hotel in Warri, Delta state, where they compiled a list of his successors and sent same to Shell Petroleum and Development Company for inauguration.

He opined that his half-brothers were allegedly after his life because he wanted due process to be followed and that his position as a leader precluded Shell from recognizing and inaugurating the list sent by the outgoing GMoU chairman.

Emmanuel who is a graduate of Building Engineering and former President of Dodo River Federated Youths Council argued that Endurance Deboh being the CDC chairman of the community was not eligible to succeed the GMoU chairman by Shell OPPG Act but could only make recommendations.

Since then, “I have been receiving series of threat calls from my half-brothers because l disagreed with the choice to install his biological younger brother to succeed him.

A state of an affair he can only rebuff at a heavy price. But just before he dismiss his fears with a wave of hands, wait till you cast a glance on his next account.

“On the 14th of April, 2018, my brothers and their gang broke into our Father’s house around2:00 am with guns and iron rods, Machetes and dragged me to a nearby bush.

“And while this was ongoing, they said to themselves that they will kill me silently without gun shut so that nobody will hear about it. They, therefore, gripped my neck and started hitting me with the back of their guns and iron rods Machetes with which they succeeded in breaking my head, hands and legs until l became unconscious and they left, thinking that l had died.

“Fortunately for me, my stepmother who overheard my voice at the initial time now ran to tell my elder sister who then raised the alarm. My sister whom l had earlier informed about their threat calls quickly ran to Ati Deboh’s house that night to tell him to go and bury my corps but his wife told my sister that her husband was not at home,

So, she waited until his arrival. When he arrived, he feigned ignorance of what has happened but he immediately betrayed his complicity when he asked my sister how much it would take to bury me so he could take the responsibility for my burial”.

He, therefore, called on the Police to call his brothers to order and protect him from further deadly attacks, claiming that his brothers have been boasting of their connections with some officers in Operation Delta Safe and Nigeria Police Force.

“As I speak, I have fracture on my right leg, a demonstrable calvarial fracture in my skull; sinuses (paranasal) showed obviously anomalies and abnormal calcification or lucency with signs of chronically raised intracranial pressure in my skull, he explained.

Emmanuel consequently called on securities agencies with utmost urgency to come to their aid.

Meanwhile, when contacted on the phone by our correspondent, Mr. Friday Deboh, denied the allegations against the family and went ahead to describe the incident as a family affair that will be resolved within the family.

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