| Leader of the Movement for Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), Bayelsa State chapter, Commander Joshua Macaiva, has warned Daewoo Company not to attempt laying off oil pipelines in the Southern Ijaw Local Government of the state, citing non-compliance by government with the cease-fire entered into in December last year.In an email he posted to our correspondent over the weekend, Macaiva said government had asked militants to sign peace agreement for one year, with a view to giving peace a chance to enable development take place in the Niger Delta but ” there is no visible infrastructural development in the region”.
He specifically warned Daewoo not to link its pipeline from Ogboinbiri flow station to Tebidaba flow-station enroute Brass Terminal as he and his men had concluded plans to commence hostilities in Bayelsa State any time next week. Macaiva said Daewoo, should in its interest, immediately demobilize its equipment and quit the Southern Ijaw territory or face unpleasant consequences as the struggle would start in earnest. “We have repeated expressed our readiness to work according to emerging realities and evolving processes. We demanded the immediate stoppage of Daewoo activities in the state as a pre-requisite for negotiation with the Nigerian state, which for decades have neglected and oppressed the people of the Niger Delta region. “Daewoo is about completing its contract with the Agip Oil Company in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area but it has reneged on its agreement with host communities”, he pointed out. The MEND leader alleged that men of the Joint Task Force(JTF) has escalated insecurity in the Niger Delta through their unprofessional conduct as they harass and intimidate harmless people on the road, farm and creeks. He maintained that the JTF, which he noted, had become a lucrative posting was designed to protect the interest of government in the region in the first instance, stressing that the conduct of the soldiers did not indicate that government was desirous of restoring hope and providing development to the people. |
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May192008