Niger Delta: Dickson’s campaign against IOCs is selfish political gains says Bayelsa APC

The Bayelsa chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa on Thursday said the campaign by Gov. Seriake Dickson, against International Oil Companies (IOCs) operating in the state was politically motivated.

Mr Doifie Buokoribo, APC State Publicity Secretary, on Thursday in Yenagoa, described the move by Dickson as a dishonest political campaign targeted on APC members, with the environment conditions in the area as only a peg.

“He has tried to dupe unsuspecting members of the public with a new dishonest campaign invented to conceal a clear political project,” he stated.

The governor had launched a campaign against the IOCs, accusing them of causing environmental degradation and using their crude oil pipeline surveillance contracts to fund crisis in the state.

Dickson had inaugurated a Commission of Inquiry into the Operations of Oil firms and subsequently set up a Committee to document the effects of oil exploration on the environment.

But APC dismissed the allegation as a move meant to pressure the oil companies into disengaging its members engaged as pipeline contractors.

APC also accused the governor of trying to impoverish the people and destabilise the party.

APC advised the oil companies against descending into the political arena in the state by succumbing to the pressure from Dickson to sack the pipeline surveillance contractors.

“It is no news that for over 60 years, international oil companies (IOCs) operating in our region have been polluting the environment, and compromising lives and livelihoods.

“Patriotic Ijaw and Niger Delta men and women, both living and dead, have engaged in genuine campaigns, protests, and advocacy to end this sad reality. Their struggles have brought benefits to our land and people in our collective quest for development.

“Our people know the patriots, and the patriots know the people. The people also know persons who have sought to make unfair profit from their sad condition, like Governor Dickson is trying to do of late.

“He has tried to dupe unsuspecting members of the public with a new dishonest campaign invented to conceal a clear political project.

“The highpoint of this political project was the inauguration in late March of what “Rise for Bayelsa Campaign”.

“At the launch of the new campaign, he struggled to make all the right noises in line with the historical demands of the peoples of the Niger Delta for environmental justice and human security.

“His gloves, however, fell off when he accused the IOCs of ‘environmental terrorism.

“According to Governor Dickson, the multinational oil corporations doing business in the state were funding “terrorism, criminality, and breakdown of law and order” Buokoribo said.

The APC spokesman said that Dickson further alleged that the oil companies were not only polluting the environment, but were also taking “their terrorist and criminal activities to a frightening level.

According to Buokoribo, Dickson claimed oil companies under the guise of crude oil pipeline surveillance contracts funded maiming, killings, and terror attacks on communities in Southern Ijaw and Nembe during the recent 2019 general elections.

“He specifically accused two chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who are oil pipeline surveillance contractors, of security breaches in the state.

“We neither hold brief for the international oil corporations nor do we speak in the name of the surveillance contractors. As a party, we have a responsibility to protect our members from political persecution.

“In point of fact, APC members are not the only people working as oil pipelines surveillance contractors in the state. Members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are also doing the same job across the state.

“For example, Gabriel Jonah, younger brother to the Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State, has been an oil pipeline surveillance contractor for years. Yet, Dickson has made it his duty to focus only on APC members.

“He is using his offices to exert undue pressure on the oil companies to take the surveillance jobs away from our members. Clearly, this is a political project, and it will not stand.

“We would like the world to know that Dickson is on a mission to impoverish the people of Bayelsa. This is a political strategy to ensure that no one can challenge him politically,” Buokoribo said.

The APC spokesman noted that members party who were oil pipeline surveillance contractors passed through due process to secure the jobs, just like their PDP counterparts.

He said Dickson’s call on oil companies to revoke the jobs of APC members under the guise that APC members were breaching security was political, petty and improper.

He added that it constituted an act of abuse of office.

“As a political party, we are saying that any oil company that listens to Governor Dickson, and decides to revoke the jobs of any of our members not in breach their contractual obligation, has entered the political arena. We will also respond to that oil company politically.

“Bayelsa State belongs to us all. Dickson is not Bayelsa State. He has been governor since February 2012.

“After more than seven years in office, with poverty, violence, crime, he is now telling everyone that cares to listen that oil companies are sponsoring terrorism in the state. The only explanation for this campaign is political anxiety,” Buokoribo said.

The APC noted that due to the good work of the oil pipelines surveillance contractors; oil theft, pipeline vandalism, and the operation of illegal refineries were at their lowest ebb.

The development, APC said, had resulted in a sustained increase in crude oil production and consequently, the state’s revenue had risen sharply with more funds entering the state through the 13 per cent derivation.

The APC said an estimated 10, 000 youths had also been employed through their engagement in the surveillance jobs across the state.

But Dickson had boasted that APC had no structures to win the Nov. 2 governorship elections and described APC as a party of that perpetrates violence.