Mayhem And Crisis At Chevron Oil Escravos Plant, Laid-Off Workers Beaten In Attack

Escravos Gas Liquid Project, a sub-contractor of the giant Chevron Oil Company, has come into focus with a series of bizzare events taking place in the middle of February that has left roughly more than one dozen people, now former company employees, recovering from an attack that included the use of tear gas, gunfire, and brutal beatings, allegedly directed from Chevron officials.
The brutal beatings and attacks took place on the night of February 14th following a series of work stoppages, and work slow downs, at the Escravos plant between February 10th, through the 14th. The labor action came after workers were told earlier in the month that they would soon lose their jobs at an undetermined point in time.
SaharaReporters has learned that scores of the workers who toiled at the company plant in Escravos had grave health concerns from their time spent there. In addition to the threat of imminent lay-offs at the end of their shifts, the price of their labor also meant a compromise in their health. The compromise has been costly. Many suffer from the remnants of illnesses connected with working closely with toxic materials. From breathing and skin disorders, to many suffering from various forms of cancer, the announcement that they would be fired from their jobs, without financial compensation was the last straw.
It is unclear just what occurred during the three-day series of work slow downs some call a strike, but Chevron company officials singled out one worker, Ms. Eyoeyibo Girli.
According to several witnesses, and Escravos plant employees, sometime after mid-night on February 14th Chevron’s Security Detail, including men from the Nigerian Army, and a military Mobile Force, cut and broke through a wired fence to the employee compound and wrecked havoc. Tear gas canisters were fired onto the grounds and into targeted sleeping quarters. Employees who were up and about were randomly beaten. Gunshots were fired into buildings of the sleeping workers, including gunfire aimed at the mess hall where some of the workers hid.
Eyoeyibo Girli was one of several leaders of the work stoppages, and now in the middle of a late night attack, became a target of the military-style surge on the employee compound. She was reportedly punched, kicked, and slammed to the ground by a team of heavily armed men. Her screams cut through the camp, and were heard by every employee on the compound. The beating stopped when one of the armed men was overheard saying, “stop, she is dying. Enough.”
Eyewitnesses told SaharaReporters that fellow employees who survived the attacks, later moved Eyoeyibo Girli to the Chevron Clinic a short distance away. She laid there for at least 48 hours attached to an oxygen bag, and fluid drip in a coma. She miraculously regained consciousness five days later, on February 19th, and moved to the Vertimon Clinic in Warri. She was not alone as at least eight other fellow employees were moved to the same facility.  The eight other employees were later handed over to the Nigeria police at Effurun, in Delta State by the Nigerian Army. They were detained nine days before being granted bail.
What has taken place in the weeks since the February 14th attacks on the Chevron Workers compound, those workers left behind, the eight employees in the hands of police, and Eyoeyibo Girli, is unclear. What is known is that Eyoeyibo Girli was discharged from the facility as an outpatient, but her whereabouts are unknown.
SaharaReporters obtained a legal letter and document written to Chevron Company officials demanding answers, and also, financial compensation to all of the employees attacked that night. That letter was written by P.E. Uwadiae, a civil attorney who is calling for a payment of Ten Million Naira for each of the employees brutalized the night of the attacks. The attorney is also calling for the sum of Twenty Million naira, to be paid to Ms. Eyoeyibo Girli, who nearly lost her life that night.
At press time, neither officials from Chevron Oil, nor officials from Escravos Gas Liquid Project, the sub-contractor in this case, have issued public statements regarding this case, or the controversial use of military officials in a private labor matter.