•Soku Gas Pipeline Is Safe, Community Leaders Declare
By Eric Moore
THE leadership of the Soku community in Akuku-Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State has denied that there was an explosion on the gas facility in the area.
The General Secretary of the community, Mr. Witness Alasia, in a statement described the alleged explosion as untrue, and urged members of the public to discountenance the news as circulated in the social media.
Earlier, it was reportedly said an explosion occurred on a gas facility located at the Soku axis of Akuku-Toru Local Government Area of the state.
The source said that the explosion which occurred at midnight breaking Sunday, March 23, 2025 allegedly hits the Soku gas pipeline operated by the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) limited.
An environmentalist and the Executive Chairman of the Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC-Nigeria), Dumnamene Fyneface, confirmed the explosion through his youth volunteers’ network in the area.
In a statement made available to journalists in Port Harcourt yesterday, Fyneface, said “an explosion accompanied by fireballs was heard and seen in the sky from the facility area which is hard-to-reach and the fire is still ongoing as at the time of this report as shown in the short videos shared with the organization by the youth volunteers of YEAC-Nigeria.”
He said: “The cause of the explosion is not yet known whether it’s caused by equipment failure, sabotage or attack on the facility.”
The Advocacy centre, however, called for investigation into the latest incident alleged in Soku and calls on the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) to carry out a joint investigation visit (JIV) to the area with a view of determining the cause of the incident and holding perpetrators to account in line with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), 2021.
But, in a swift reaction, the Soku community countered the report, saying that such an incident didn’t occur and the satellite communities are safe.
The General Secretary of Soku community, Mr. Alasia, stated: “On behalf of the leadership of the Soku Kingdom, I write to debunk the falsehood escalating in all social media that there was an explosion in the Soku Gas Plant.
“It is disheartening and worrisome that people will mischievously misinform the public with a baseless and untrue story. Soku Gas Plant is Safe and in a perfect working condition.
“The public should disregard this unguided and untrue report. Though, there was a fire outbreak in one of the gas pipelines along Soku-Abua-Rumuji right-of-way, the cause of the explosion is unknown and the Company also has not come up with any useful information.
“We use this medium to inform the public that Soku and her satellite communities are safe and calm.”