JTF arrests Rivers community leader for allegedly shutting down 11 oil wells
Mr Chikeobi Alali, a community leader in Ogba
Ndoni Egbema Local Government Area of Rivers has been arrested for allegedly
disrupting production at an oilfield operated by Agip.
Mrs
Ngozi Alali, Chikeobi’s wife said on Tuesday that her husband was arrested by
the Joint Task Force (JTF), “Operation Delta Safe” on Saturday.
“My
husband was arrested by soldiers and taken away and when we traced them to the
heaquarters in Yenagoa, the soldiers feigned ignorance of his arrest.
“We
kept pestering them until they admitted that he is in their custody but they denied me access to him.
“Efforts
by his family and lawyer to secure his bail has been fruitless;
we were told on Monday to write a letter to the Commander of JTF to allow us to
see him; we wrote the letter and we were told that the commander was not around.
“My
husband is the Chairman of the local government oil and gas landlords
association, he was arrested with the secretary and one other person, the two
others arrested along him have since been released.
She
explained that the problem they have
with the oil company borders on failure to review an expired agreement, saying that the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) review
has been dragging for long.
“And
the last meeting they held last year, they gave a deadline of November 2016 and
all the parties agreed that if after November 2016, the agreement is not
reviewed, the community would shut down the oil wells, that was why they
arrested him,” she said.
Meanwhile,
Spokesman of joint military force deployed in the Niger Delta region, Maj.
Abdulahi Abubakar confirmed the development that 11 oil wells belonging to Agip
were shut down by the host community.
The
spokesman said that it was wrong for the community to take laws into their
hands and noted that efforts were underway to resolve the crisis as officials
of the oil firm had visited the suspect.
He
said that troops deployed in the area had reinforced security around the oil
field and reopened the facilities for operations, adding the military will not tolerate interference with
oil facilities.
Meanwhile,
Mr Pat Obiene, a Social Activist in a reaction called for the immediate release
of the community leader as his detention had led to a protest at Agip’s office
in Port Harcourt on Monday.
“From
available records Agip reneged on an arrangement to close out the MoU in
November 2016 and we are already in March 2017 and the only reasonable thing to
do is to detain the community leader ?
“This
is counter-productive and not in line with the peace initiative of the federal
government, the military should change their attitude and promote dialogue and
consensus which the Vice President preached during his recent tour to the
region,” Obiene said.
Officials
of Agip declined comments on the development.
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