Asaba: An indigenous oil company, Conodit Refinery Limited, has petitioned Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State and the Inspector General of Police, IGP, Ibrahim Idris, urging them to intervene in an 
impending crisis in Umukwata community, Ukwuani Local Government Area, over alleged moves by some individuals to frustrate its efforts to establish an oil refinery in the community.
Speaking through its Community Liaison Manager, Mr. Godfrey Uwadia, yesterday, the company lamented that two prominent indigenes of the community, Chief Joseph Ekeli and Fidelis Osuyali, who had been working round the clock to ensure that the refinery was established, had been arrested and taken to Lagos on frivolous allegation of threat to life by some persons working to derail the project in the community.
Saying the arrest of the duo was based on “framed up allegation”, he alleged that one of the masterminds of their arrest had boasted that “over his dead body would the refinery be established,” claiming that he was not recognized when negotiations were going on between the company and land owners in the community where the project would be sited.
According to him: “Lands in Umukwata are owned by individuals and not the community. The company has secured relations with the owners of the land measuring 278.5 acres.
We are about writing a Memorandum of Understanding for the outright purchase of the land and waiting for the investors to come in.
We have already secured our license and we have a signboard in the place to direct the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, to the place because they want to see the place and conduct the Environmental Impact Assessment, EIA.
These men that were arrested are innocent and we want the Delta State and Federal Government to intervene and secure their release. This is an issue that the government needs to step in because if the refinery is established it will be very dear to Deltans and Nigerians.”
Recently there had been issues as the years long dispute in leadership between the factions of Chief Friday Abaja group, and and another led by a retire police officer from the community, and ADC to the former governor of Rivers State, Dr. Peter Odili
