For decades, TotalEnergies has operated across Africa, extracting resources, displacing communities, and polluting the environment under the banner of “development.” In reality, their operations have left a legacy of oil spills, toxic gas flaring, forced displacement, and broken promises, enriching foreign corporations while deepening poverty and environmental harm.

The Kick Total Out of Africa campaign is a continent-wide call to end this exploitation and demand justice, reparations, and a just energy transition led by communities.

On August 18, 2025, the air in Ogbogwu Community, Rivers State, crackled with both frustration and determination as residents gathered for a historic town hall meeting. Organized by the Community Development Advocacy Foundation (CODAF) as part of the pan-African "Kick Total Out of Africa" week of action, the event served as a powerful platform for the oil-impacted community to voice years of pent-up grievances against TotalEnergies' operations under the OML 58 cluster. This gathering form part of a broader continental movement, with similar actions taking place simultaneously in nine other African nations including Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda and South Africa. This coordinated Africa Week of Action, spearheaded by 350 Africa, represents a growing wave of resistance against fossil fuel corporations across the Africa.

The town hall brought together generations of Ogbogwu residents, from elders who remembered their once-thriving ecosystem to youth facing an increasingly bleak future. One after another, community members painted a devastating picture of life under TotalEnergies' footprint. They spoke on the effects of air pollution from gas flaring in their community.

The collective testimony revealed a pattern of corporate neglect spanning decades. Participants accused TotalEnergies of employing divide-and-rule tactics within the community, making empty promises of development, and consistently failing to properly compensate for damages.

According to Mr. Ajie Wisdom a community member stated thus, “It is imperative that Total leaves Nigeria, as their operation have done more harm than good in our community”. citing that Total gas flaring operations have negative impacted the health of residents in the community.

In a powerful show of unity, the community issued clear demands: TotalEnergies must immediately cease operations and leave not just Ogbogwu but Nigeria entirely. They called for comprehensive environmental remediation to heal their poisoned land and waterways, reparations for years of lost livelihoods and health impacts, and stronger government oversight to prevent such corporate abuses in the future.

Mr. Endurance Oriakhogba, Project Officer, CODAF announced plans to channel the community's testimonies into formal petitions Africa tribunal that is going to hold in South Africa on 24^th of August 2025. In his statemen, "We will take Ogbogwu's cry for justice to every relevant forum until TotalEnergies is held accountable and our environment restored."