Nnimmo Bassey, environmental rights leader in Nigeria and Executive Director of Environmental Rights Action is currently in Copenhagen and participating in the KlimaForum – The People’s Summit -  the civil-society led alternative to the Climate Summit and was interviewed by Amy Goodman on Democracy Now! on December 8, 2009.  Gas flaring is one of the key environmental disasters in Nigeria with over 100 gas flares burning 24 hours a day, 7 days a week accounting for 10% of flared gas world-wide—and more than 40 million tons of carbon-dioxide emissions annually—according to statistics from the World Bank’s Global Gas Flaring Reduction Partnership.

Last week in San Francisco’s Federal District Court, Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman was sited in a deposition given by Sola Omole, Chevron’s General Manager of Public Affairs in 1998.  In 1999, Goodman traveled to Nigeria to report on the May 1998 shooting that took place on the Parabe oil platform where Chevron sent in the notoriously violent Nigerian military to shoot unarmed protesters who were protesting environmental damage and lack of jobs. The incident led to the Ilaje villagers suing Chevron for human rights abuses.  In the video below Omole admits – for the first time – to Chevron paying and transporting the Nigerian military to the platform that day. Additionally, James Neku, Chevron’s head of security at the time, whose deposition was also read into court late last week admitted to being on the helicopter that brought the military to the platform.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYlnmylGlAc]

This video is split into three parts. In the 2nd 3rd sections,   Justice In Nigeria Now Founder Laura Livoti and Nigerian Activist, Omoyele Sowore  who accompanied Amy Goodman and her then producer Jeremy Scahill to the Niger Delta,  discuss the historical nature of this unprecedented case:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8fEmDuvDNI]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxdmkMlwRLA]