Oloibiri 2015

When crude oil was discovered in Oloibiri in 1956, an educated Timipre, Olu Jacobs could not influence his kin to demand control over how the oil company extracts the oil, and to ensure that their people are employed in decent positions, because they were satisfied with the minute promises of the LESH company—a fictional stand-in for Shell-BP. After many years, he is tormented by his past—the catastrophe that befell the people of Oloibiri.

However, Boma, aka Gunpowder, Richard Mofe-Damijo, a geology graduate and a former employee of LESH, has become a vigilante in the oil-rich region and proving the nemesis of white companies and locals looking to further exploit the area. Gunpowder kills his former partner, Dogo, whom he accuses of greed.

Things take a sharper turn when news arrives that there’s been an approval for Foreshaw to extract oil from Otuagbagi, a nearby community—a deal worth $300 million in revenue each year. But Gunpowder has infiltrated Forshaw and has a spy working as a personal assistant to the founder and director of the organisation, Mr. Powell, William R. Moses. The spy, Powell’s PA, Azu, Dayton Sinkia, helps Gunpowder deliver a mail to Powell in a bid to dissuade Foreshaw from continuing with the plan. Powell finds pictures of malnourished Nigerian children and those affected by crude oil poisoning inside the envelope.

Nevertheless, Powell has good intentions for the communities and wants to help solve their problems, unlike other oil companies. He decides to visit Nigeria to see things for himself with the help of their Nigerian representative, Cyril Beke (TK Bello). Cyril seldom cares about the state of the communities and is only interested in enriching his pocket.

Powell arrives in Nigeria but his convoy including Cyril, and a group of soldiers, is ambushed by heavily armed Gunpowder and his men. Powell initially escapes with the help of a soldier and is found by Timipre’s grandson’s love interest, a doctor who takes Powell to Timipre’s house. Timipre threatens to take Powell to Gunpowder, but the lovers manage to convince him to help Powell. He eventually agrees and connives with Gunpowder’s mother to find a haven for Powell. Meanwhile security personnel were already aware of the attempted kidnap.

Azu and Dobra, Gunpowder’s accomplices in the US, have kidnapped Powell’s family and his second in command (Mr. Sheen), ransoming him to initiate a cancellation of the Oil Mining Lease (OML). However, an exasperated Gunpowder eventually captures Timipre, his grandson, the doctor and Powell. The OML is now cancelled but Gunpowder reneges on his agreement with Azu and Dobra to release Powell when the OML is cancelled, insisting that Powell and the likes of Cyril Beke must pay with their blood.

Infuriated by Gunpowder’s betrayal and blood lust, Azu reports himself to the police and reveals Gunpowder’s hideout. In the meantime, Timipre, his grandson, the doctor, and Powell are escaping captive after Timipre kills one of Gunpowder’s boys.

Heavily armed soldiers then attack Gunpowder’s hideout, outnumbering and overpowering them. Gunpowder is shut down from his watchtower and as he falls, a glass cup falls and shatters from the hands of his mother, a sign that his son had died. Then we see a younger version of him in front of an altar with a Rosary, saying, “Father please bless my Rosary.” > Father please bless my Rosary. Upon landing, his body is soaked in a pool of crude oil pouring from the top.

The movie ends with a newspaper report that Timipre has become a representative of the community and will be working together with Foreshaw in the best interest of the locals.