Ijaw youths urges FG to go after sponsors of oil theft
(Nigeria) The Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, on Sunday urged the
Federal Government go after the sponsors of oil theft in the Niger Delta region
if it was committed to ending it.
The council gave the advice in a statement signed by its
spokesman, Eric Omare and released in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.
According to the statement, oil theft in the Niger Delta
region has persisted because the sponsors of the activity have continued to
fund it.
It urged the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex
Badeh to go after the sponsors if the government was committed to ending oil
theft.
Omare said that his advice was in response to the warning
the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh gave to deal
ruthlessly with perpetrators of criminal activities in the region when he spoke
at the inauguration of the Joint Task Force, JTF, permanent office complex in
Yenagoa.
He said though the majority of the people in the region were
law-abiding, they remained the greater victims of oil theft ``because oil theft
has polluted the environment. It is an open secret that those involved in oil
theft in the Niger Delta are well-placed persons in the society, including top
ranking serving and retired military officers.
``Some persons in the Niger Delta are only used as artisans
and errand boys. The IYC has said this several times and wonders why the
innocent people of the Niger Delta should be the scapegoats for the sins of
highly placed and powerful people in Nigeria.
``It is obvious that the poor villages cannot be the owners
of an oil ship containing 15,000 tons of oil recently impounded by the JTF,``
Omare said in the statement.
The statement added that there was no connection between
Niger Delta amnesty programme for ex-militants and the ongoing criminal
activities in the region.
He said that the natives of the area were only clamouring
for better living conditions from the oil and gas resources found in the
region.
``The IYC does not support or encourage criminal activities
such as kidnapping and sea piracy under any guise as these activities are not
part of our struggle. However, these criminal activities in the Niger Delta
region cannot be used as a justification to blackmail the entire people of the
Niger Delta region,`` he said.
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