Nigerian king Emere Godwin Bebe Okpabi has appeared before the courts accusing Royal Dutch Shell of contaminating the water in his community in Nigeria. Okpabi has flown to London for a High Court hearing in which lawyers for more than 40,000 Nigerians are demanding action from Shell to clean up oil spills. The Anglo-Dutch oil giant argues that the case should be heard in Nigeria, pointing out that it involves its Nigerian subsidiary SPDC. The king however said the English justice system was his only hope to end the blight on his people's lives. He wants the High Court to compel Shell to implement a 2011 landmark report by the UN Environment Programme, which warned of dangerously high levels of hydrocarbons in the water and poor air quality.
