MEND Destroys Elem-Kalabari Oil Pipeline

Elem-Kalabari is a sigificant area for the Kalabari, an Ijo-speaking people, who have inhabited the area for over 500 years. The Kalabari were major players in the transatlantic trade along the western african coast from the 15th to 19th centuries, acting as crucial middlemen. Their competetiveness came from the establishment of giant canoe houses which provided the boasts for the trade and for war purposes and were organized like a modern day corporation with managers and all. Thus, the Ijo culture became more developed and ingrained in the area.

So you see their problem with oil companies taking over their land for their own personal profit and simultaneously exerting outside economic and cultural influence on their geography.