President Olusegun Obasanjo is due in Bayelsa State on Monday (today) for the ground breaking of the Brass Liquefied Natural Gas project at the coastal Brass Local Government Area of the state.
The event is not being publicised in view of the security situation in the restive oil region.
The development might not be unconnected with the declaration by the militants of the dreaded Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, who promised a showdown with the president.
The Brass LNG, a joint venture, will go a long way in addressing youth restiveness in the Niger Delta, as thousands of qualified persons are to be employed according to a top Bayelsa government official, who craved anonymity.
A source at the Port Harcourt office of the Nigerian Agip Oil Company also told our correspondent in a telephone interview on Sunday that the President would quietly fly in a chopper to Twon-Brass, headquarters of the Brass LGA for the programme.
The Agip employee stated that immediately after the brief ceremony, the President might not visit Yenagoa, as he might be flown back to Port Harcourt enroute Abuja in order not to take chances.
The source added that the organisers of the event were not taking lightly the MEND�s declaration of attacks on all pipelines, platforms and support vessels.
Agip is one of the partners in the LNG�s joint venture.
Meanwhile, the six expatriates working for the United States major oil firm, Chevron, that werekidnapped by MEND on May 1 this year in an offshore location in Bayelsa State and moved to an unknown Niger Delta creek, are yet to be released.