Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) has blamed Arepo fire disaster on the revocation of its pipeline protection contract by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Scores of persons involved in vandalisation of oil pipelines and theft of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) were killed on Wednesday while trying to steal the product from an oil facility at Arepo near Lago State.
Sources say the vandals had already concluded their operation and were about to leave when their speed boat failed to start.
An explosion then occurred when they tried to get the machine to work.
In a statement issued by Mr Yinka Oguntimehin, the OPC Director of Media and Publicity in Lagos, the group said the loss of lives is very sad and yet another national disaster.
It noted that in the last one month, similar deaths were recorded in Ikorodu and Ijedodo areas of Lagos, with another recorded in Bayelsa due to the activities of pipelines vandals.
Continuing, “It must be noted that activities of the vandals were permanently controlled for the period of three months that our men protected the pipelines.
“It is, no doubt, regrettable that in a little more than one month after our men quit the job, more than 200 deaths have been recorded as a result of the activities of pipelines vandals.
“While some people condemned our men and called us names, it is on record that nothing of this magnitude happened during the period of the three months that our operatives secured the pipelines.
“Of particular interest was the comment of the spokesperson of the Lagos chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Joe Igbokwe, in which he referred to our members as hoodlums and outlaws.
“The lesson to be learnt in the latest incident by Nigerians and our government is that government should encourage Nigerians with good ideas to be part of governance.
“All over the world, citizens are encouraged to be partners in progress with the government to move the country forward,’’ the statement said.
It added that this was what the congress tried to represent by presenting itself as partner in progress with the government.
The statement recalled that while OPC men worked at the site of the pipeline in Arepo, the people of the community had a sense of safety.
“All that sense of safety was gone with the wind once again with the return of the vandals,” OPC added.
“While security operatives can work to protect the pipelines, the issue of pipeline protection is much more complex than mere protecting the pipelines.
“It involves intelligence gathering, which ultimately should involve the people and this was the strategy that we employed during our time protecting the pipelines.
“The result of that strategy was our ability to curtail the activities of the vandals.
“Unfortunately, because we have placed politics above matters of national importance, the vandals have resumed their nefarious activities, killing and maiming our people’’
Comments