BRASS LNG: IJAW CHIEF IN SOUP OVER MILITANTS' ATTACK

    * IGP Orders Indepth Investigation

A PROMINENT Ijaw chief is currently in the soup over an alleged militants attack at the construction site of the Brass Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project in Bayelsa State last November.

Some superior Police officers in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, told our correspondent yesterday that the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr. Mike Okiro, has ordered for an indepth investigation into the matter.

A Superintendent of Police from the Force headquarters, Abuja, is said to be heading the investigating team.

This is, however, sequel to a two-page petition dated December 2, 2008 to the IGP by the Managing Director of Chiteks Ventures Limited, Mr. Chima Akuzie, an engineer.

In the petition to the IGP, Akuzie alleged that Chief Samuel Sambo, who hails from Brass, the home of the LNG project in Bayelsa state, set some militants against him.

The Ijaw chief is the proprietor of Irad Investment Limited, a company with offices in Port Harcourt and Lagos, that sub-contracted a contract of clearing\ removal of debris at the site of the Brass LNG project, which measures 90 hectares.

The total value of the contract was N143 million which consisted of N135 million as the main contract sum and N8.00 million for mobilisation and demobilisation.

Akuzie alleged in his petition to the IGP that he was never paid correctly in accordance with the terms of their agreement for the job which lasted for four weeks.

''While i was at work at the site, Chief Sambo set the community against me and when i planned to demobilise because of being short-changed, the youths were set against me. They prevented me from removing my equipment'', Akuzie stated in his petition to the IGP.

Continuing, he said, ''when i finally finished the job and was demobilising, Chief Sambo set some militants against my barges. They vandalised and seized the barges. The militants release the barges after i paid them a ransom of N3.oo million''.

In the mean time, efforts to get Chief Sambo for comments did not pay off. Officials of Irad Investment Limited in Port Harcourt told our correspondent that he was ''out of the country''.

Police investigation however, continues.