RELATIONS and close associates of suspected militants in Delta State stand no chance of contesting in the forthcoming elections under a new policy rolled out by the State Security Service (SSS). The move, according to the state Director of the SSS, Mr. Adebayo Babalola, is to check the activities of militants especially in the creeks.
The SSS men also, yesterday, quizzed the Presidents of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) on threats by the two unions to pull out their members from the Niger Delta on account of the threats to their lives.
Mr. Babalola, speaking at a meeting with political stakeholders in Asaba, said the SSS would not allow those he described as dangerous people in the polity.
His words: �We (SSS) are not going to allow militants and their sponsors including their relations and close friends to participate in the electoral process by running for offices. How can we allow it? They (militants) will capture whitemen in the creeks and their brothers are here running for elections. We will make sure you (political parties) don�t recommend those that are dangerous in the society including political thugs. We are going to write letters to chairmen of political parties to be aware even if they enter into the race, we are going to disturb them.�
Speaking earlier, the state Police Commissioner, Mr. Udom Ekpoudom, said: �We (police) are set, very ready to make sure that campaigns are conducted without any hitch. We have got enough policemen to provide security. So, no need to go about with thugs.�
He warned politicians not to carry arms to polling stations and remember to abide by the Public Order Act by ensuring that they obtain permission before they hold any rally.
But in his contribution, the state Publicity Secretary of the People�s Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Fred Sowho, condemned the pronouncement of the SSS State Director, describing it as draconian.
�It needs a bit of fine-tuning. It is not always that a relation is viewed as evil person merely because he is related to a militant. It may not be fair to draw inference across the board and we may need to revisit the matter,� he said.
The meeting was attended by 36 Divisional Police Officers (DPOs) in the state, representatives of political parties, INEC among others.
…quizzes NUPENG, PENGASSAN Presidents
Meanwhile, following moves by oil workers to pull out of the Niger Delta region on account of the increasing wave of hostage taking and threats to their lives, the Federal Government yesterday launched an initiative to stop the workers, summoning their leaders to a meeting with the State Security Services.
Vanguard gathered that the threat by the oil workers to pull out from the region is causing disquiet at the Presidency and the oil and gas industry because of the implications for revenue receipts, the forth coming general elections and image of the country abroad.
Specifically, the SSS, yesterday, in Abuja invited the President of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Comrade Peter Akpatason, and his Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) counterpart, Comrade Peter Esele, for questioning in connection with the planned pull out of the oil workers.
Members of both unions in the volatile oil producing communities at the branch levels who say they can no longer put up with the level of insecurity in the region are planning to withdraw their services from the region until the security situation improves.
Vanguard gathered that oil workers had already met with their employers, especially the multinational companies, putting them on notice.
One of the leaders of the workers at the branch level in the Niger Delta told Vanguard on condition of anonymity that major oil companies in the up and down stream sectors of the nation�s petroleum industry had met with the national leadership of oil workers� unions to discuss the matter.
The source said the leadership of the workers at the national level made it clear to the management of the oil companies that there was little or nothing the national leadership could do if the security of the workers could not be guaranteed.
According to him, the leadership of the oil workers at the branch level in the Niger Delta had last week intensified its preparations to effect the withdrawal of services by both members of NUPENG and PENGASSAN from the region. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), it was gathered, tried to persuade the workers to reconsider their position but all to no avail.
Also yesterday, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Edmund Daukoru, invited the Presidents of NUPENG and PENGASSAN, Comrades Peter Akpatason and Peter Esele respectively and other leaders of the oil workers for a meeting in Abuja in an attempt to prevail on their members in the region not to carry out their threat. They were said to have spent over an hour in the SSS headquarters before they were allowed to go.
The oil workers had in last September embarked on a three-day warning strike nationwide to protest insecurity in the region which claimed the life of Comrade Nelson Ujeya, a Community Liaison Officer (CLO) to Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).
The strike was called off after two days following an agreement that government would address the concern of the workers among other things.