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Ijaw group evicts oil firms Oct 1
•Govt, Shell react
LERE OJEDOKUN, Abuja, SOPURUCHI
ONWUKA, Lagos, and agency report
MILITANT Ijaw
group, the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF), led by Alhaji Dokubo
Asari, has given all oil companies in the Niger Delta till October 1 this year
(Friday) to shut down production or face an "all out war."
The group also sought secession of the
Niger Delta even as oil major, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC)
yesterday announced the closing down of its 28,000 barrels a day Santa Barbara
flowstation on account of violence in the Niger Delta. Unconfirmed reports also
said the firm had evacuated 200 non-essential staff last week.
However in an apparent swift response to
the militant’s threat, the National Council of State (NCS) yesterday in Abuja
rose from a meeting during which it gave President Olusegun Obasanjo approval to
deploy all available measures to deal with any group threatening Nigeria’s
sovereignty.
In addition, the Rivers State government,
Shell Joint Task Force in Rivers and other Ijaws, in a grounds well of reactions
warned the NDPVF that it would be walking into the lion’s den should it go ahead
with its plan.
Ebonyi State government, Dr. Sam Egwu, who
briefed state House correspondents after the NCS meeting, said that "full
backing" has been given to the president to take any measure he deemed fit to
quell threats from any quarters.
He said: "It is the view of the council
that Mr President should take adequate measures to deal with any group that
threatens the sovereignty of their country and we gave him the full backing to
do that, so government is not playing about it."
The meeting was attended by some
governors, deputy governors, vice president Atiku Abubakar and four ex-heads of
state, General Yakubu Gowon, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, General Ibrahim Babangida and
Chief Ernest Shonekan.
The reaction of the NCS came even as the
militant group insisted on October 1 quit date for the oil companies,
threatening war after the said date.
Besides, the group, better known as the
Dokubo-Asari rebels, demanded the withdrawal of all expatriates from the Niger
Delta "until the fundamental issues are resolved."
The expatriates will be targeted from
October 1 if they are not evacuated, the group said.
Rising from a meeting of its central
command Monday evening, the group, in a communique read out by Dokubo-Asari in
Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, said it would launch a military
offensive code named Operation Locust Feast from October 1 to free the
oil-rich Niger Delta from the alleged depredations of the oil companies and
government control.
Foreign news reports quoted Dokubo-Asari
as saying that his alleged 200,000-man volunteer force will sustain Operation
Locust Feast until the Federal Government agrees to negotiate
self-determination for the Ijaw people who form a majority in the Niger Delta.
The Ijaw National Congress (INC), he
disclosed, has been nominated by his group for any talks with government.
"Anyone who assists the Nigerian State to
make money in Ijaw land will be seen as a collaborator and an enemy and will be
targeted," he said.
Dokubo-Asari disclosed that his group
would not attack oil pipelines because it did not intend to pollute the
environment.
He accused oil multi-national, SPDC "of
collaboration with the Nigerian state in acts of genocide against our people."
Reacting to the position, SPDC, through
its spokesman, Mr. Don Boham said Shell was not perturbed by the threat.
"We are not in any way moved by the
threat. We believe the Nigerian security forces are equal to the task of
safeguarding oil installation and protecting workers," he said.
Rivers State Governor, Dr. Peter Odili
described the Dokubo-Asari group as unserious.
"Dokubo-Asari is a joker. He does not have
the capacity to destroy oil installations. The government will not allow it. The
security forces are fully mobilised and combat-ready to dislodge him," he said.
Interestingly, the Ijaw Reformation and
Justice Front (IRJF) denonced the ultimatum given by Dokubo-Asari.
According to Sir Ebitobo Youkore, the
president of IRJFI the people of the western Niger Delta were not carried along
by the rebels.
Youkorre warned the group to confine its
activities to the western Niger Delta as his planned action was not
represenational.
"We do not know the cause that he is
fighting. We cannot be part of what we know nothing about. How can he just
declare as ultimatum without consultation?" he querried.
Youkore urged the rebel leader to settle
whatever quarrel he has in Rivers State with his people without bringing the
western Ijaw into the matter.
Also speaking in the same vein, the
president of the Ijaw Youths in Warri, Mr Lucky Izourumor said that the
ultimatum should be disregarded.
Izoukumor stated that the Ijaws are tired
of unnecessary wars, adding that they only fight if their rights were tiampled
upon.
He urged all the oil companies in the
western Niger Delta to continue to operate as the Ijaws would not fight without
reason, warning and consultations.
On its part, the joint Task Force in
Rivers (Operation Flush out 3ty) dared Alhaji, the gang or any militia
group to attack anybody or proper in the Niger Delta.
Captain Oyeama Kanu, Army Public Relations
Officer, 2 Brigade Nigerian Army, Port Harcourt, threw the challenge while
rreacting to the call from the group.
Kanu stated that since the inauguration of
the task force on September 4, it had been treating issues with kid gloves
because of antecendents of military involvement in internal security operations
and the resultant public opinion in Rivers State.
But with such unuarded threat from the
gang, Capt. Kunle declared that the Joint Task Force is being catalysed to
manifest full military colours in the creeks of Rivers State.
He warned Dokubo-Asari and his ilk to stop
stirring internal insurrection in the state, warning that any gang that doubts
the task force resolve should strike first.
The Army spokesman appealed to expartriate
oil workers and other residents of the state to go about their usual businesses
as a 24-hour patrol in Port Harcourt and its surrounding creeks has been
instituted by the task force while there are crack teams of standby troops to
reach any part of the state at short notice.
In his reaction, Rivers State commissioner
of Police, Elder Sylvester Araba said that very soon the militia leaders would
arrested.
Araba disclosed that security for foreign
nationals has been beefed up while adequate security have been provided at all
oil installations in the state.
The police boss stated that the security
forces in the state are combat ready for any threat or outbreak of violence as
patrols have been intensified in all parts of the state, including the creeks.
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