Ex-Niger Delta militant leaders meet in Rivers over oil theft

.Group knocks critics, says merit considered in contract award

Former militant leaders and key stakeholders from the six states of the Niger Delta region met at the weekend, in Okrika Council of Rivers State, over the sustained move to tackle crude oil theft in the region.

Among those present at the meeting, convened by King Ateke Michael Tom, are Asari Dokubo; Chief Ajube Bibopiri, also known as Gen. Shoot-at-sight; and Victor Ben Ebikabowei (Gen Boyloaf).

Sources at the meeting confirmed that it was convened to discuss ways and strategies needed for overseeing the pipeline surveillance contract with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).

According to the source, those in attendance also shared the objective of intensifying their efforts to combat oil theft in the region, just as they agreed that the contract be decentralised.

However, while more specific details of the gathering remain undisclosed, it was apparent that it marked a unified front against persistent problem of oil theft in the region.

Meanwhile, Conference of Civil Society Groups for Good Governance (CSGGG) has countered the sustained smear campaign against NNPCL over rehabilitation and surveillance contracts.

The group was reacting to allegations that contracts for the rehabilitation of pipelines nationwide were awarded to a “Northern oil cabal.”

Addressing a press briefing, yesterday, in Abuja, the President of the group, Domnic Ogakwu, indicated that peddling gross misinformation and unsubstantiated allegations on oil pipeline rehabilitation, as well as surveillance contracts have now been adopted as a weapon of choice in the hands of unpatriotic elements.

Ogaku enumerated the giant strides of NNPCL, calling on Nigerians to support the leadership of the company’s Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO), Mele Kyari, in the face of unpatriotic and misleading distractions by saboteurs of President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

He said merit was considered in the award of the contract. “It is obvious to all well-meaning Nigerians that some wolves are expending a lot of negative energy to discredit the NNPCL’s boss to push him out of office and have unfettered access to seize and manipulate state resources to their personal advantage.