Members of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), yesterday accused some officers of the Nigeria Police of complicity in pipeline vandalisation in the Eastern part of the country.
Addressing newsmen in Enugu, yesterday, Port Harcopurt Zonal Chairman, Comrade Patrick Okwunwanne, and the Zonal Secretary, Comrade Godwin Ukwu, said evidence of their allegation is a tanker now in the custody of the union which was allegedly used
by the security agency to evacuate petroleum products from vandalised pipelines.
“During our inspection tour of the pipelines’ right of way, we discovered that it is only at the point you have MOPOL (mobile policemen) boots that vandal-induced breakage occur. As further evidence of police complicity in pipeline vandalisation, a tanker truck is lying in Enugu depot abandoned by the police at the pipelines’ right of way, which they used to evacuate products from vandalised pipelines. When confronted by our people, they abandoned the truck and fled. They even attempted to burn the truck,” the union said.
It accused the police of using tanker drivers as cover in pretence to fight vandalisation, alleging that “whereas they make fortunes out of it.”
According to the Union, policemen posted to the roads have been harrassing their members in the name of trying to ascertain the genuiness of the source and legality of their products.
The union gave the Police 21 days-ultimatum within which to allow its members free passage on the public highways or give members police escorts for each truck belonging to members as “proof of the genuiness of the source of the products.” .
This way, the union said, the police on the high way will be convinced that their members do not engage in illegal business.
Okwunwanne also accused the police of extorting money from members. “In addition to that is the illegal extortion of money from tanker drivers by the police, most tanker drivers are unnecessarily delayed to the point of breaking their resistance to offer money as ransom before they are eventually released to continue with the journey.
“They do all these in the guise that they are fighting pipeline vandalisation. This is unacceptable to us, because we have evidence to prove that pipeline vandalisation is perpetrated by
men of the police force. They are the ones mannaing the pipelines’ right of way.”
Our Correspondent could not reach the Police Public Relations Officer in Enugu State, Mr Mike Abattam for his comment as at the time of filing this report.
Mar92007