Okomu Oil Suspends Operations After Deadly Attack By Gunmen

The New Diplomat
Writer
Okomu Oil Suspends Operations After Deadly Attack By Gunmen

Ad

Sanae Takaichi Shatters Glass Ceiling, Becomes Japan’s First Female Prime Minister

By Abiola Olawale ​Sanae Takaichi officially made history on Tuesday, October 21, 2025, by being elected as Japan's first female prime minister following a parliamentary vote. Takaichi, an ultraconservative leader of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) secured the top post after a coalition deal with the right-wing Japan Innovation Party (Ishin no Kai). The 64-year-old…

PDP To Know Fate on Oct 31 as Court Delivers Judgment on National Convention

By Abiola Olawale The political landscape of Nigeria's main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), remains suspended in uncertainty as the Federal High Court in Abuja has set October 31 as the date for judgment in the contentious suit challenging the party’s planned national convention. ​The high-stakes ruling, which follows the conclusion of legal…

Brent Flirts With $60 as Oversupply Fears Deepen

Oil prices continued to inch lower in early Tuesday trading as concerns about oversupply and sagging demand resumed their grip on the market, even as trade-talks between the United States and China offered a glimmer of optimism. At the time of writing, WTI was down 0.52% at $57.22, while Brent had fallen 0.54% to $60.61.…

Ad

The Okomu Oil Palm Company in Edo State has suspended its operations in the aftermath of an incident described by management as a “terrorist attack”.

A worker in the company is said to have been killed by gunmen who invaded the company on Tuesday.

“For now, we are forced to shut down our operations to save lives from possible reprisal. We are already working with security agencies. For now the army has taken over the security of the plantation.

“The company will remain closed until the security situation improves,” the company’s managing director, Graham Hefer, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in an interview on Thursday.

Mr Hefer said there was invasion of the firm, leading to the death of an employee, the damage of an equipment and the setting ablaze of 20 hectares of its rubber plantation.

The managing director, who spoke through the company’s Communications Officer, Fidelis Olise, at the company’s headquarters in Okomu, near Iguobazuwa in Ovia North-East Local Government Area, said about six gunmen killed an unarmed excavator operator, threw his body into the trench before setting ablaze three of the company’s excavators.

“These gunmen, who we believe are terrorists fighting a political war, also set fire to the plantation destroying about 20 hectares of the rubber plantation.

“These are not herdsmen but terrorists who came into the plantation through the waterway and carried out a well-coordinated attack, wielding AK 47.

“These terrorists were real professionals the way and manner they ambushed our workers.

“We believe that this attack is politically motivated to create fears in our people who are peaceful and loyal subjects of the state government and the Benin Kingdom.

“This terrorist attack is not good for business, it is not good for Edo people and obviously not good for the Nigerian environment and its economy.”

The company said it would cost them about $100,000 (N50 million) to replant the 20 hectares and bring it up to its present years of maturity over the next seven years.

The Commissioner of Police in Edo State, Philip Ogbadu, confirmed the incident to NAN.

Mr Ogbadu said while a gunboat had been stationed on the Okomu river side, investigation into the incident was ongoing.

(NAN)

Ad

X whatsapp