Leaders of the Sapele Okpe Community have firmly rejected claims by the Alema of Warri Kingdom, Chief Emmanuel Oritsejolomi Uduaghan, over the ownership and naming of the proposed Abigborodo Oil Field in Petroleum Prospecting Licence 220 (PPL 220), insisting that the land in question belongs exclusively to the Okpe people.
In a detailed rejoinder released on Sunday, the Okpe leaders faulted a Facebook post attributed to Chief Uduaghan, describing his assertions as misleading, historically inaccurate and contradicted by colonial records, government White Papers and existing legal instruments.
The statement was jointly signed by Chief Onoriode Temiagin, Chief Austin Arieja, Chief Lt. Col. Babuba Moses Abeke (rtd.), Hon. Chief Godwin Atose and Chief Patrick Akomovba, who said they were speaking on behalf of the Sapele Okpe Community in Sapele Local Government Area of Delta State.
The leaders urged the Federal Ministry of Environment (FME), Navante Exploration and Production Limited and the general public to give serious attention to the protest earlier lodged by the Udogun Okpe (Orodje-in-Council), the highest decision-making body of the Okpe Kingdom, over what they described as the wrongful naming of the oil field.
According to the statement, land covering PPL 220 does not belong to Abigborodo Community, a position the leaders said was clearly affirmed in a 2020 Delta State Government White Paper issued after an extensive judicial panel of enquiry. They stressed that communities such as Gbekoko and Otonyatsere have never been part of Abigborodo nor under any form of Itsekiri administration.
The Okpe leaders dismissed claims that colonial authorities ignored petitions challenging the constitution of the Okpe–Urhobo Forest Reserve, stating that records in the National Archives show that the Olu of Itsekiri’s claim to the land was investigated and rejected before the reserve was formally constituted in 1933.
They further argued that the Forest Reserve was administered by a native authority made up entirely of Okpe indigenes, countering Uduaghan’s assertion that Okpe authorities did not contribute land to the reserve. “If Okpe people did not give land, who did?” the statement queried, noting that Itsekiri claims were dismissed from the outset.
The leaders also rejected claims that Abigborodo farmers ever held or successfully defended land rights within the reserve, insisting that no court judgment or legal instrument supports such assertions. They described the name “Abigborodo Oil Field” as a later manipulation aimed at conferring ownership on a community whose claims had long been resolved against it.
They disclosed that at a state-level meeting on October 23, 2025, involving Navante Limited, Delta State Commissioners for Oil and Gas and Environment, and Sapele Okpe leaders, the company was expressly directed to ensure that the oil field’s name reflects the true landowners before commencing the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).
The statement warned that misidentifying landowners during the EIA process amounts to environmental injustice, as it excludes the actual host community that would bear the environmental consequences of oil exploration.
The Okpe leaders advised the Federal Ministry of Environment and Navante not to be swayed by what they described as “Facebook falsehoods,” insisting that ownership of the Okpe–Urhobo Forest Reserve cannot be conferred through oil field naming. They challenged Chief Uduaghan and Abigborodo leaders to seek a declaration of title in court if they believe they have a valid claim.
The rebuttal follows an earlier rejoinder by Chief Uduaghan, who had urged the Federal Ministry of Environment to disregard protests by the Udogun Okpe, maintaining that the Abigborodo Oil Field rightly belongs to Abigborodo Community in Warri North Local Government Area.
The dispute has reignited long-standing tensions over land ownership in the Okpe–Urhobo Forest Reserve, with federal and state authorities now expected to carefully review the competing claims as the EIA process approaches.
