FROM: TAIWO AMODU, ABUJA
A group, Oil Producing Area Association of Nigeria, (OPAAN), has expressed concern over what it called a plot to relocate the Maritime University from Okerenkoko to Ibusa.
It cautioned that such action could incite the oil communities and the Niger Delta as a region against President Muhammadu Buhari and his administration.
In a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja and signed by OPAAN’s National Secretary, Chief Chris Obiuwevbi and National Secretary, Dr. Alfred Mulade, the group advised President Buhari to halt the move as it noted that it was capable of aggravating the scary security situation in the region against the backdrop of hostile environment precipitated by the emergence of Niger Delta Avengers.
OPAAN submitted that there was nowhere in the world where naval institutions were established far inland, just as it said that school facilities for the children of naval officers and men were usually co- located or in close proximity.
It further noted that certain security chiefs close to the Presidency were bent on precipitating crisis to undermine the genuine intentions of the President Buhari administration, adding, that peace in the Niger Delta and indeed Nigeria would be better achieved in the environment of justice and fair play arising from sound judgment.
The group’s statement read in part: “It has come to our notice that the Nigerian Maritime University, Okerenkoko, is being considered for relocation to a proposed Navy Secondary School, Ibusa, Delta State.