“It’s a very dangerous activity”

Odey Oyama has faced multiple death threats. In January 2025, he and six others were attacked and arrested by police and released on bail only after a week. Villagers protecting the forest as “Green Rangers” under his leadership have already been assaulted.

The persecution of environmental defenders is nothing new: in 1996, the recently deceased Chief Edwin Ogar and five others were sentenced to two years in prison for opposing logging. Odigha Odigha of the organization NGOCE was even forced to flee into exile. When villagers stopped a logging company in 2023, the military intervened.

It’s dangerous, a very dangerous activity,” Odey says. “You can easily be killed. I have just been lucky.”

With these words, the human rights organization Global Witness quotes Odey Oyama in its annual report on murders and violence against environmental defenders.

We are very grateful to see Odey Oyama and our partner Martins Egot featured across several pages of the report as examples of courageous activists in Africa. 

As a result, numerous Nigerian and international media outlets have quoted both men extensively, drawing attention to the destruction of forests in Cross River State that we have been resisting together for years, particularly the community forest of the Indigenous Ekuri people and the “superhighway” that we helped prevent through a petition, among other efforts. Today, illegal logging and the organized crime driving it remain the most pressing threats.

“Like so many communities across the country, continent and the world, we have seen the devastating effects of rampant resource exploitation and corruption and devastation of our land and environment all in the name of profit,” Martins Egot told Africa Prime News.

The international community must recognize the role we play. When communities like ours are empowered, they become the most effective guardians of the environment,” said Martins Egot.

This approach – working closely with local communities – is one we pursue together with Martins Egot, Odey Oyama, and many other partners around the world.

146 murdered or disappeared

The statistics on violence against environmental defenders in the Global Witness report Roots of Resistance are alarming:

- In 2024, 146 cases of murder or long-term disappearance of land and environmental activists were recorded. The authors stress that the number of victims – particularly in Africa – is likely much higher, as many cases go unreported.

- On average, three people were killed or went missing every week in 2024. This brings the total number since 2012 to 2,253.

- The killings include murders, extrajudicial executions, and deaths in custody – a total of 142 fatal attacks.

- Of the recorded homicides, 137 (82 percent) occurred in Latin America. Sixteen cases (11 percent) were reported from Asia, and nine (6 percent) from Africa. Altogether, cases were documented in 22 countries. The situation is particularly difficult in Colombia, the Philippines, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

- Mining was the deadliest sector, with at least 29 cases, followed by logging with eight and agribusiness with four.

1. Odey Oyama heads the Rainforest Resource and Development Center (RRDC) and the Green Rangers. Martins Egot is the director of PADIC-Africa.

2.  

   Africa Prime News used a photo taken in Nigeria by Rainforest Rescue activist Mathias Rittgerott. Martins Egot can be seen in the background.

    

   Here are links to a selection of the publications:

    

   Defending the Earth is deadly work. A new report illuminates how much.

   126 environment defenders killed in Africa – Global Witness report

   Africa’s Forest Defenders Under Siege as New Report Exposes Wave of Killings, Intimidation

   Land, environmental defenders under attack across Africa – Report

   Global Witness: 126 Land and Environmental Defenders Killed or Disappeared in Africa Since 2012