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Ex-militants in the Niger Delta have dissociated themselves from the secession declaration made weekend by the new militant group, Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), which Pointblanknews.com exclusively reported.
The ex-warlords said they were not part of the proposal to break away from the Nigerian state by the group which has gone on a bombing spree in the last couple of months.
They spoke under the aegis of the defunct Niger Delta Liberation Force (NDLF), saying that the time was not yet ripe for the Niger Delta people to declare self-government.
This is contained in a statement signed by its spokesperson, Colonel Mark Anthony and made available to Pointblanknews.com
NDLF condemned in its entirety the current bombings, describing it as a ‘’sinister ambition with ulterior motive by trying to drag us into their fight’’, adding ‘’we have not discussed Niger Delta Republic in any meeting as agenda’’.
The group wondered how a ‘’handful of disgruntled Youths will try to deceive Nigerians by putting us in their particular failed business transactions with the federal government’’.
Stressing that NDFL was not aware of the insidious plan as it was never discussed anywhere in their meeting as such they would never throw its weight behind calls for the region to secede from Nigeria.
In a veil attack on ex-militant leader, High Chief Government Ekpemupolo alias Tompolo , the ex-agitators said: ‘’Our son just left office and you were enjoying juicy contracts from the administration of former president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. We urge you to face the Nigerian Army like late NDLF leader, late General John Togo.’’
The ex-militants reiterated that they would not be part of ‘’your proposed Niger Delta Republic now and urged the military to smoke out the perpetrators and bring them to face the music as they are ‘’common criminals’’.
Bayelsa Loses N24bn Annually to Payroll Fraudsters, Says Gov Dickson
A whooping sum of N24 billion is said to have been scammed from the state government annually through ghost workers and other fraudulent practices, Governor Dickson Sieraki has disclosed.
The governor lamented that over N100 billion has so far been paid by his administration in the last four years on bonds and overpayments made to his predecessors.
Of this the sum, he bemoaned, a hefty sum of N1.3 billion is deducted as bonds, while more than one billion naira goes for what he described as overpayments, totaling about N2.5 billion monthly.
According to the governor, the fraudsters work hand-in-gloves with some dubious financial institutions in the state to pull off the shady deals.
The governor gave the insight during a live interview programme in Yenagoa, the state capital, decrying the fifth columnist whom he said has over the years served as a clog in the wheel of his government in arresting the corrupt practices in the workforce.
Stressing that he was poised to clean the Augean stable, governor Dickson said government has introduced a new way of payment of salaries and that directives have been issued to all heads of ministries, departments, agencies and school principals to prepare nominal rolls and payroll vouchers, threatening that they would be questioned if there was any suspicion on their documents.
Dickson stated that the current system of payment of salaries was no longer sustainable and blamed it on the dwindling revenue from the federal purse and meager internally generated revenue.
Shedding light on the workers’ salaries, he said he has discussed with the organized labour on the adoption of 70 per cent pro rata payment or 50 percent across board for all civil servants.
On the strike action embarked upon by the state-owned Niger Delta University (NDU), the governor noted that the varsity was weighed down by the problem of over-bloated workforce, underlining that the government has been doling out about N500 million monthly as grant since 2012.
He wondered why the institution expends the grant on payment of salaries and urged the authorities to devise means to get more funds to run the institution.
Delta Communities give Chevron 72 hours over arrest of five oil workers by JTF
Delta communities hosting the facilities of Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL) have rubbished claims by the military that the five persons arrested over the weekend were militants bombing oil and gas facilities in the area.
The communities said contrary to the reports, the five alleged militants were actually contract workers for the American oil giants, inspecting earlier bombed pipelines ahead of the visit of the Joint Investigation Visit (JIV) team to inspect the extent of damage when the military troops swooped on them.
The communities stated that the workers were with their identification cards and were ferried to the site in Chevron’s boat, adding that their explanations that they were sent for inspection fell on deaf ears as they were taken to the military base at Koko and locked up.
To this end, the communities have given Chevron 72 hours to effect the release of the said oil workers or they would be forced to withdraw all the surveillance workers, among other workers working for oil firms in the area as their safety were no longer guaranteed.
They accused Chevron of paying lip service to the arrest of the five community workers, saying that the military was harassing and intimidating community oil workers as Chevron has failed to come to their aid.
Chairman of Kokodiagbene, Comrade Sheriff Mulade, who spoke on behalf of the oil producing communities in the area, expressed dismay over the lukewarm attitude of the management of Chevron over the arrest of the five workers branded Avengers.
He said: ‘’It is pertinent to state that we are no longer safe in the hands of security agents going by the constant harassment of our people. We have handed a 72-hour ultimatum to Chevron to ensure the release of those arrested oil workers and if they fail to do this, we will withdraw all our services from all the oil companies including, Shell, Chevron, NPDC and Neconde.
‘’We are not Niger Delta Avengers. We are law abiding citizens of Nigeria and those workers were doing their legitimate work when the JTF pounced on them and arrested them, thereafter proclaiming to the world that they have arrested Avengers. They should adopt more of intelligence in doing their work otherwise they would end up killing innocent people in the communities.’’
In a tersely worded statement, Chevron’s General Manager, Policy, Government and Public Affairs, Deji Haastrup, said: ‘’ All CNL staff are accounted for. As far as we know, no Chevron employee has been arrested by the JTF. Beyond this, we are not able to comment on JTF operations.’’