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From Paul Osuyi, Asaba
The Niger Delta Indigenous Movement For Radical Change (NDIMRC), an oil and gas exploration monitoring group, has said the Governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara is not fair to the Niger Delta region over his comment on the pipeline surveillance contract.
Mr. Fubara was quoted as saying that such contract should not have been awarded to ‘one man’ for the entire region.
His comment however irked NDIMRC, as the group in an open letter to President Bola Tinubu, implored him to be wary of the governor and also call him to order now for interest of peace.
The group expressed shock over the utterances of the Rivers State Governor, saying that his words were capable of disrupting the prevailing peace in the Niger Delta region.
According to the group, since the pipelines surveillance contract was awarded by the administration of former President Mohammadu Buhari to ex-militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo aka Tompolo, the region has known peace and crude oil thieves milking the nation dry put under control.
Nelly Emma, John Sailor, and Stanley Mukoro, President, Secretary, and Public Relations Officers respectively of NDIMRC, said in the open letter that while illegal oil dealers are enemies of the country, mischief-makers and crude oil thieves are actively working to prevent renewal of the contract because it has crumbled their illicit empires.
“We hate to believe that the Governor of Rivers is encouraging these enemies of the nation who are stealing our crude oil for selfish reasons.
“Mr. President, we must say that we were shocked by the utterances of the Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara on Saturday, August 26th, 2023 when he played host to high powered Federal Government delegation led by National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu.
“His words are capable of generating bad blood among the peace loving people of the Niger Delta region. We have been wondering since he said such things if the Rivers State Governor is a beneficiary of crude oil thieves in the region because it is only those romancing with crude oil thieves and enemies of the country could have made such a very sensitive statement at a time when Tompolo through his company, Tantita has been able to chase away crude oil thieves from our Creeks.
“It should be made clear that Tantita is just a coordinator of the good job that Tompolo is doing as every community handle their own job and Mr. President, this has brought peace to everyone and we are not going to allow the Rivers State Governor to cause bad blood among the people,” NDIMRC said.
