The Oodua People’s Congress said it would pull out its men from guarding
all Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation pipelines nationwide from
Monday evening.
Spokesman for Gani Adams Faction of the congress, Mr. Yinka Oguntimehin,
said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos on
Monday.
Oguntimehin said this became necessary because the corporation had yet to
start paying for the work its men are doing.
He said the corporation was, as part of the contractual agreement entered
into, three months ago, expected to start payment.
The spokesman said the OPC personnel had continued to guard the pipelines
with the belief that the corporation would pay as promised.
“When we were given the contract on March 15, it was agreed that they will
release money for the OPC personnel for effective protection of the NNPC
pipelines nationwide.
“We lost one man last month because of the activities of the vandals here
in Lagos, while some of our men were arrested in the course of protecting
the pipeline.
“We had told them to release some of our money before the new
administration took over, but they kept promising us.
“Enough is enough, three months have passed since our members started
monitoring the pipeline, and we have fulfilled our part of the agreement.
“By 10pm today, our personnel will move out of the NNPC pipelines
nationwide and this applies to other groups in the country,” he said.
The federal government had, in March, awarded a multi-billion Naira
contract to the OPC to secure NNPC pipelines in the South-West zone of the
country.