Dr. Ibe Kachikwu,the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources
and Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation, NNPC, Group Managing
Director, yesterday,
revealed how he received threats from a
Niger Delta militant.
Kachikwu, who was one of the ministers
that attended the Federal Government’s
town hall meeting in Kaduna State, lamented
the effect of attacks on oil installations.
He described the
attacks as a drain on the
country’s resources, adding that the
government was on top of the situation.
Pipeline surveillance contractors behind
renewed bombings —Activist
Meanwhile, there are indications that some
pipeline surveillance contractors were
behind the recent bombing of oil
installations in Delta State, which a militant
group, Niger Delta Avengers, had claimed
responsibility for.
A Niger Delta activist confided in Vanguard
that some leaders of the affected
communities know the people carrying out
the bombings, but were afraid to speak out
because of the repercussion.
An ex-militant leader, Paul Eris, alias
“General Ogunboss,” from Bayelsa State,
who spoke to Vanguard on phone,
corroborated the claim that the people
behind the bombing are known and urged
government to fish them out.
He said that former agitators in Bayelsa
State had warned those behind the so-called
Niger Delta Avengers in Delta State not to
extend their violent activities to Bayelsa or
face their wrath.
But, Niger Delta Avengers, which described
itself as a group of “young Niger Deltans,
who have support from other parts of
Nigeria, namely, Northern, Western and
Eastern parts of the country,” in a posting
on its website, said it “picked up the
struggle from where former Niger Delta
agitators left off,” adding that “only the
actors are new.”
NDA high command, which comprises
agitators from all ethnic groups in the Niger
Delta, made it clear that they were not part
of the Presidential Amnesty Programme
because “the programme is not genuine.”
Contractors behind pipeline bombimgs
Our source, however, insisted: “The militants
are working together with the contractors;
the contractors use them to blow up the
pipelines and bid for the repairs. They
employ the militants for the period of the
repairs and pay them huge money. When the
contract is over, they look for another
pipeline to blow up.
“You see, this was how their seniors in the
militancy business made money and they
want to make big money too. That is what
is happening,” he added.
Bombing of Chevron facility politically
motivated —Ogah
Also, a Gbaramatu political leader, Isaiah
Ogah, has said that the bombing of Chevron
facility in Warri South-West Local
Government Area of Delta State was
politically motivated.
He stated this yesterday during a chat with
Vanguard in Warri.
According to him, “Those bombing Chevron
pipelines in the pretence of representing
Niger Delta people do not have the blessings
of Niger Deltans. The Avengers should first
start with Niger Delta indigenes who were
entrusted with the development of the area
in the past years, who failed us.
“President Muhammadu Buhari is being
hasty to punish his perceived political and
long standing enemies. That is the reason
for the bombing of oil facilities. The
Avengers should separate their inimical acts
from Tompolo’s decision. They should know
that he has the right to distance himself
from their activities. The Avengers should
tell the Niger Delta people who are they
avenging for,” he added.
Ijaw group condemns military siege on
Oparoza
But Concerned Ijaw Transformation
Ambassadors, CITA, yesterday, condemned
the over eight hours military siege on
Oparoza community of Gbaramatu in the
wee hours of May 8, 2016.
Arerebo Peters, acting President, CITA,
said: “It is highly condemnable. While we
would not take sides with the vandalism of
oil facilities in the Niger Delta, we are the
first target of harassment by troops and
security agencies.
“We expressed in clear terms to the Buhari-
led Federal Government that sending troops
to peace loving Ijaw communities is not the
answer to the emerging agitation pioneered
by NDA.
“The Federal Government must note that
the sad memories of the Gbaramatu
genocide are still fresh in the minds of the
harmless and law abiding people of
Gbaramatu Kingdom. It is also noteworthy
that after eight years of a full scale ethnic
cleansing launched by the Nigerian Military
forces against the peace loving people of
Gbaramatu Kingdom, there is still no sign of
sustainable rehabilitation of Gbaramatu
Kingdom.
“Thus, any further military siege will only
evoke the bitter travails of the previous
genocide in the minds of the people of the
kingdom. We also question the sincerity of
the actions of the Buhari administration in
sending troops to Gbaramatu Kingdom in a
bid to hunt the masterminds of the revived
hostility in the Niger Delta, especially as this
is coming from a government that has kept
silent in the face of serial massacres
launched by blood thirsty Fulani herdsmen.
“This goes a long way to prove that the
Nigerian government values a drop of crude
oil more than a million pints of blood of
innocent citizens daily slaughtered at the
whims and caprices of Fulani herdsmen.”
Maku-Eyituoyor pleads with militants
Meanwhile, Chairman of Warri North Local
Government Area, Delta State, Mr. Francis
Maku-Eyituoyor, has appealed to NDA to
stop further vandalization of oil facilities in
the council.
The appeal came on the heels of the
admission by NDA, of responsibility in the
recent attack on a major oil installation at
Abiteye in the council.
The council boss called on the militants to
explore ways of dialoguing with the Federal
Government with a view of engaging them
to protect the oil pipelines and facilities in
the region.
He lamented that sabotaging them was
worsening the economic conditions of
people in the council. He pleaded with them
to reconsider their action of seeking to
cripple the nation’s economy and remarked
that their action will bring untold hardship on
everyone, including the militants
themselves.
Govt knows the perpetrators —Ogunboss
Ogunboss, who insisted that there was
nothing like Niger Delta Avengers, said: “The
government knows who is behind these
activities. When these individuals were
taking contracts and living freely on the
streets, did you hear anything like Niger
Delta Avengers?
“There is no Niger Delta Avengers, rather,
there is an avenger, who is carrying out the
attacks on oil installations in the Niger
Delta. When Buhari won the election, there
was nothing these guys did not do. Some
other individuals in the region and myself
were called just to ensure that pipelines are
tampered with in Bayelsa State, but I was
not part of it. I do not want to be involved
and I can tell you that no Bayelsan would be
involved in that level of illiteracy.”
Groups exonerate Tompolo
Responding to a recent allegation by an
Itsekiri leader that an ex-militant leader in
the state was behind the bombing by Niger
Delta Avengers, Niger Delta Security Watch,
Ijaw Peoples Development Initiative and Ijaw
Human Rights Monitor, in a statement, said
the leader in question only exposed himself
as a co-conspirator.
Directors of the respective groups, Dickson
Bekederemo, Austin Ozobo and Fred Brisibe,
said: “The truth about the utterances of
the said Itsekiri leader regarding the recent
incident of pipeline vandalism in specific
areas of the Niger Delta is that he has
succeeded in exposing himself to the world
as an accomplice.
“From his position on the matter, it is clear
that he can tell the identities of the heavily
masked members of this new militant group,
NDA, who claimed responsibility for the
destruction of the Chevron oil facilities. The
implication of his assertion is that he was
there when the Avengers masked up and he
knows them.
“This makes him an accomplice. It is
baffling that the Federal Government is still
on a voyage in search of the perpetrators
when, indeed, a party to the offence has
confessed to it. DSS, as a matter of
urgency, should have invited him for
questioning.
“Tompolo, from all accounts, is a helpless
fugitive who is hoping on God to deliver him
from the current travails. Linking him with
this criminal act shows clear tendencies of
phobia towards the Ijaw nation."
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