A pan-Ijawย socio-political organisation,ย Niger Deltaย Youth for Equity and Justice (NDYEJ)ย has commended the Joint Task Force (JTF) for the arrest of suspected criminalsย behind the recent gas pipeline explosion fromย Escravosย toย Warri.
The Spokesman ofย NDYEJ, Samย MacPepple, in a statement in Port Harcourt on Fridayย said that the arrest was commendableย especially coming afterย โaccusing fingers have been pointed atย the wrong direction” onย a repented Niger-Delta militant, Government Ekpemupolo,ย popularly known asย Tompolo.
He statedย thatย the arrested leader of the gang,ย Nengi Ikiba, was a well-known thug of the All Progressive Congress (APC) loyal to ex-former governorย Timipreย Sylva and would help the authorities in their investigations.
The group recalled that Tompoloย had before the incidentย raised the alarm that some people were planning to bomb crude oil facilities in the Niger Delta region and attribute it to him but that his concern was disregarded.
Macpepple, however, said that the arrest ofย Nengi Ikibaย and his groupย had vindicatedย Tompoloย asย he urged the security agencies to investigate the suspected culprits thoroughly to โunmask their sponsors and motives behind their actionโ.
He attributed the explosions to political reasons, stressing that it might have been a criminal expression of dissatisfactionย with the outcome of election inย Bayelsaย State.
โIt completely beats my imagination that such heinous crime will be perpetrated just to score cheap political point. To think that they blew up the gas pipeline fromย Escravosย toย Warriย down to Lagos andย Abuja at three different points, namelyย at Opudebulorย Okpelamaย andย Kpokpo
โIt is however inconceivable that the bombing of such critical national assets was done for purely political reasons and this is a very important point the relevant authorities must thoroughly investigateย to get to the root of the explosions. Of course,Tompoloย was right when he said those behind the bombing did it because they were dissatisfied with the re-election of Governor Henry Seriake Dicksonย andย because of his support for him”,ย MacPepple said.
He admonished those who were still aggrieved as a result of the outcome of the Bayelsa State governorship election not to resort to destruction of national assets especially crude oil facilities and pipelines andย thereafter attributeย such action toย Tompoloย because of his position on the recent election.
