‘It is all politics!’
By Ada Anioji
A community spokesman in the Koko port town, headquarters of the Warri North Local Government Area of Delta State, where the Italian merchant, Gianfrenco Raeferelli and his collaborators had dumped their deadly consignment of toxic waste in 1986 has denied that any fresh consignment has presently been dumped on the community.
According to him any talk of toxic waste dumping at this time was only a politically motivated exercise by persons ‘claiming relevance and crying more than the bereaved.’
The alleged toxic waste dumping is only a figment of their imagination, the source, who would not be named, disclosed to The Difference Investigations.
Shedding more light on the situation, he averred that ‘the waste they called toxic would have been the raw material for the petrochemical/fertilizer company that was to have been sited in Koko by the previous administration in the country.
‘In 2009 l was the first person to have drawn the attention of the Itsekiri public to the danger the substance posted to acquatic lives in Koko river. The Warri Mirror carried a full story on it. The M.D of Ebenco told me his story and we confirmed then that the Warri North health authorities had also done their checks and found nothing against him. Ebenco is a waste disposal contractor to Chevron. It has been managing Chevron’s waste from Escravos via barge conveyance. How it became imported toxic is what l do not understand. Koko is safe and its serenity is assured,’ he insisted
Health Minister, Professor Isaac Adewole
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