There
are conflicting claims by the Army and the Niger Delta Greenland
Justice Mandate (NDGJM) over an attack on a delivery line operated by
the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) at Otu-Jeremi, in
Delta State.
The NDGJM, through its spokesman Gen.
Aldo Agbalaja yesterday claimed the attack on the 42-inch NPDC delivery
line, while the military joint force in the Niger Delta code-named
Operation Delta Safe based in Bayelsa State debunked the militants’
statement.
The acting spokesman for the force, with
headquarters at Yenagoa, Lt. Cmdr. Thomas Otuji, said there was no
truth in the NDGJM claim. He said: “It was a case of bush burning, which
ignited the old pipeline,” urging the public to disregard the
statement.
Otuji, who spoke on phone with The
Guardian said: “Gentleman, it was a case of bush burning that ignited an
old pipeline, no such attacks.”
NDGJM, however, insisted it would not be
deterred by military offensive in the region to halt its pipeline
attacks, threatening to fight on “till the last man is alive.”
Meanwhile, indigenes of Okpai and
neighbouring communities in Ndokwa East Local Government Area, Delta
State have protested against what they alleged as illegal oil
prospecting by Sterling Global Oil.
The protest followed an attempt by the
company to lay pipes right under their doorsteps, allegedly with the
help of the 222 Battalion of the Nigerian Army.Speaking through the
Secretary of Okpai National Union, John Nwanosike, they said yesterday
that they had resolved to stop the company until it respected the rights
of the local people.
Lamenting that the oil firm had been
operating in the last 10 years without environmental impact assessment,
Nwanosike urged the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and Nigerian
Petroleum Investment and Management Service (NAPIMS) to call the Indian
firm and its Nigerian collaborators to order.
Efforts to get the company’s response to
these allegations however proved abortive. The Public Relations Officer
of Sterling Global Oil, Mr. Emeka Nwachukwu, who earlier promised to
speak with The Guardian after a meeting with the company, refused to
either pick his calls or reply to text messages sent to his mobile
phone.
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