Sponsors of New Delta Avengers are members of board of DESOPADEC, former militant alleges
- A former militant commander has revealed the identity of sponsors of the new militant group which vowed to crush oil installations in Delta state beginning from June 30
- Israel Akpodoro said the sponsors of the group are disgruntled board members in the Delta state oil producing areas development commission (DESOPADEC)
- He said they want the state governor, Ifeanyi Okowa to spend the Paris Club refund on the agency for their selfish gains
A former militant commander, Israel Eshanekpe Akpodoro, has revealed that the new militant group which emerged under the name New Delta Avengers and vowed to begin blowing up oil pipelines in Delta state from June 30, 2017 have their sponsors in the board of the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC).
Akpodoro, who leads a section of former militants in the Niger Delta and surrendered his arms during the amnesty days of late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, told Legit.ng in an email that the resurrected militants are holding brief for their sponsors in the Delta state government agency.
He said: "We have it on good authority that these boys are being funded by their local champions who are members of the board of the agency.
“They are agitating so as to achieve their goal of stampeding Governor Ifeanyi Okowa into recklessly pumping the Paris Club refund on DESOPADEC while the issue of salary indebtedness and allowances of workers running into months and arrears remain unpaid.
READ ALSO: Militants group threatens to resume attacks on oil industry
“They are holding brief for their sponsors in DESOPADEC but unfortunately, the army is ever ready to remove them out of circulation.
"To theses group of thieves, it doesn't matter if workers are paid or not in as much as they force money out of the government to build their war chest against 2019.
“Whoever bursts pipelines in Delta state should be killed on the spot and the leaders of such communities should be arrested and prosecuted and ultimately the paramount rulers deposed."
He further stated that rather than allowing disgruntled elements of a state owned agency, DESOPADEC, mislead them into engaging in hostilities because of the recently disbursed Paris Club refunds to states, the youths should be sensible enough to resist such temptation and live in peace.
He warned groups he described as miscreants, criminals in Delta state of serious consequences should they make real their threats to destroy oil and gas pipelines in the Niger Delta region.
The warning is coming at the backdrop of threats by the NDA to renew hostilities in the creeks of Delta state following allegations that Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta state is neglecting the oil producing areas in the execution of his projects and programmes in the state.
The militant group vowed to resume bloody attacks on the oil industry in the state effective from midnight June 30, 2017 saying the notice it has given is to put the federal government and oil companies operating in the state on the know over the proposed attacks.
But Akpodoro, a former militant leader warned that any group that attempted to undermine the growing peace in the region would face the full weight of the law.
He said whoever committed crime under the guise of agitation would be treated as a criminal, adding that the zone can no longer return to a period of war and commotion.
He warned that the security agencies in the region, Operation Delta Safe, will crush whoever tampers with the national assets that are domiciled in the state.
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Akpodoro further stated that the youths of Niger Delta have abandoned the use of threats and violence to achieve their goals, adding that whatever is the situation that may have angered the youths, such could be settled without recourse to blowing pipelines, an action which has been abandoned in the region.
Akpodoro called on the security operatives to brace up to meet force with these criminal elements so as to block them before executing their threats.
"They are just a handful of criminals and miscreants who aren't employable because they are lazy, their lives depend on crimes, they have the indecent entitlement from the oil and gas in the region and this makes them so lazy that even if given jobs they won't do,” Akpodoro said.
Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari has been away from the country for almost a month, there seems to be no noise as at the other time. Watch this Legit.ng and see whether Nigerians are missing the president
Source: Legit.ng
