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Pipeline vandals not terrorists, says Darah

By Hendrix Oliomogbe, Asaba
19 April 2016   |   4:56 am
A university teacher, Prof Godini Darah, has faulted President Muhammadu Buhari, on his recent threat to deal with oil pipeline vandals in Niger Delta, the same way he’s dealing with the Boko Haram.....
pipeline vandalized

pipeline vandalized

Insists Buhari’s approach will fail
A university teacher, Prof Godini Darah, has faulted President Muhammadu Buhari, on his recent threat to deal with oil pipeline vandals in Niger Delta, the same way he’s dealing with the Boko Haram terrorists in the Northeast of the country.

Darah, who spoke at the university town of Abraka, Delta State yesterday, said he was yet to figure out the context of the President’s statement.
According to him, whatever the context, the analogy was wrong because Boko Haram terrorists are rebels, insurgents who have caused tremendous damage to Nigeria in the last five years.

Darah, a former Chairman, Editorial Board of The Guardian, explained that the armed forces have not yet fully dealt with the terrorists, because they are still harassing innocent Nigerians, adding that they have no public cause and it was inappropriate to compare them to those who break pipelines.

He said: “People who break pipelines are criminals and do not operate like Boko Haram, but they cause damage to the economy.”
According to him, “If the breaking of oil pipelines has continued unabated, it means that the Federal Government is incompetent in providing security to those crucial infrastructure.”

He cautioned that, “This is not 1984 when Buhari was a military Head of State, or even back to 1977, when he was Minister of Petroleum Resources.”
He explained that modern technology has so advanced that it is possible to protect those pipelines from far away places, without putting human beings on the track.

Darah said the president might have made the statement in anger, during his recent visit to China, noting that so far, his government has failed by not protecting the critical oil infrastructure.

“How do the people in Saudi Arabia, Scotland, America, Qatar and so many other countries protect their own? How come that our own pipelines are so vulnerable to damage?” he asked.

According to him, his suspicion was that those who are involved in oil theft are insiders in the government ministries, which is why they are impossible to catch.

Darah charged: “It is not just in the Niger Delta, as we have had cases at Arepo, Ogun State, Atlas Cove in Lagos and so many other places. Can you operate those things if you have no insider knowledge of the petroleum industry?

He reiterated that if someone were not familiar with a particular terrain, it would be impossible to carry out such nefarious act.

The don urged the president to do more thinking into the origin of the crime, and not just express anger, because that statement is as a result of anger.

He said that the primary responsibility of government is to protect lives and properties, and it is escapism if the oil industry, which is the most vital in Nigeria of today, cannot be protected except through Boko Haram method.
He predicted that the president’s efforts might end up in fiasco, if he decides to use Boko Haram method to approach the issue.

He remarked: “It is not a question of going to pray in Saudi Arabia where he has been severally. There are wonderful facilities there. It is about thinking and not prayers that produce those wonderful infrastructure.”

He argued that pipeline vandalism was a more profound problem than Boko Haram, reminding that the Boko Haram thing has not been eliminated as the nation have been on it for over five years now.

Darah said: “We have not traced the Chibok girls. If that is the method they want to apply to oil bunkerers that do damage to pipelines and oil facilities, it is an obsolete and
inadequate method, because you cannot use Boko Haram method of fighting pipeline vandals who are entrenched in the system”

9 Comments

  • Author’s gravatar

    I do not subscribe to opinion of some academia just for the fun of it or just because they are professors. The statement credit to this professor is pitiable if he cannot understand that pipelines vandalism is a treasonable crime in Nigeria.
    Boko Haram activities is a crime against humanity and the state of Nigeria and pipelines vandalism is a crime against humanity and Nigeria. They both inflate pains and untimely deaths on innocent and vulnerable Nigerians.
    Anyone who supports them is an accomplice to these crimes which President Buhari has socially constructed as terrorism. There is empirical adequacy in the construction of Niger Delta pipelines vandals as terrorists.
    Professor Godini Darah should have known better as an academician that president Buhari is right to have categorised pipelines vandalism as terrorists because that is what they are.
    The government has done everything to satisfy their quest by providing them with financial and technical aid hence there is no further justification for them to continue vandalising pipelines.

  • Author’s gravatar

    Its either this is a sentimental prof. or a half-baked prof. Boko Haram did tremendous damage to Nigeria, killed the innocent and obstructed source of livelihood to thousands of Nigerians…so does pipeline vandalism – explosions from pipeline vandalism has killed not only the terrosist but also many innocent villagers, damages farmlands and rivers makin fishin impossible thereby obstructing the source of livelihood of thousands, not to mention the damage to and loss to national economy. The foreign countries he mentioned were able to safe there national assets because they are a patriotic people who are jealous of there countries. Nobody will go and deliberately sabotage his natioanl assets. So “Prof” pls be educated.

  • Author’s gravatar

    Firstly, who is a terrorist? A terrorist is someone that unleashes terror.
    These unscrupulous elements in the NigerDelta unleash terror on us all. Most times they r armed with sophisticated weapons. They kill law enforcement agents and security agents,the electricity/power load shedding we are experiencing now in the country was caused by the damage caused on the Escravos gas pipelines by those that say the pipelines belong to them.
    One could remember vividly the attack on atlas cove, was that not a terrorist attack?
    Our soldiers are killed regularly in the creeks because of bunkering and vandalism.
    Prof, you fall your hand.

    • Author’s gravatar

      Where do this charlatan deltavoice got his get ur definition? Google is more of a companion. Shame

    • Author’s gravatar

      Where do this charlatan deltavoice got his definition? Google is more of a companion. Shame

      • Author’s gravatar

        That is a simple definition, and I guess it suits your kind.

        Besides what kind of patience Jonathan English did you write above?
        Get a life dude….

        • Author’s gravatar

          Lmfaooooooo… me??? Yessir. But it’s gud if u allow ursef to learn. The definition u gave is outrightly wrong mister. Why is it difficult for u to leave ur bigoted hatred for ones and build “even ursef” to be useful to ur family and the society at large. Just spend 2mins on Google, depending on how fast u cud learn, and u cud safe ursef of this future shame, huuh!!!

          • Author’s gravatar

            ……leave ur bigoted hatred for ‘ones’ and build. Is that English Language?
            ‘once’ not ‘ones’.
            I can see clearly that you have been using this your English to help your family and society the way Dame Ebele Patience helped her family and society with her guttural English.
            Chai! Na only you waka come o..

  • Author’s gravatar

    Is this prof. Guilty of the crime or what? I smell a rat here

  • Author’s gravatar

    The writer if checking this should be reminded he writes a wide range of sycophancy patients. The ranting shud be understood