Briga News Nigeria
A security watch group, Warri Urban Security Network (WUSN), has described the report indicting a first class monarch in Warri as sponsoring a protest demanding the removal of the NNPCL’s Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO), Melee Kyari, as false, baseless and unfounded.
It would be recalled that a group had in a report at the weekend claimed that a prominent Warri traditional ruler was responsible for the protest recently embarked upon by indigenes of some Itsekiri communities in Warri demanding the probe and removal of the NNPCL boss.
But in a swift reaction in a statement signed by Chief Frank Onoriode and Barrister Dafe Okpako, its Chairman and Secretary respectively, WUSN clarified that the series of protests embarked upon by some Itsekiri indigenes recently was based on genuine demand to be carried along in whatever they are entitled to inline with the provisions of Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) as it affects host communities.
The body warned those mischief makers within and outside Iwere kingdom using different names of groups in the media in a desperate attempt to disrupt the peace so far enjoyed in Warri and its environs to desist from such evil agenda as the peace being enjoyed In Warri today cannot be compromised for the selfish interests of a few disgruntled individuals.
The statement read in part; “Our attention has been drawn to a publication in some sections of the media where a prominent monarch in Warri was accused of instigating his subjects to embark on a protest demanding the probe and removal of the NNPCL’s Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) Mr. Mele Kyari, from office”.
“We, members of the above mentioned body, comprising of intellectuals, professionals, traders and artisans that cut across various ethnic nationalities in the country and with vast business interests in Warri and its environs, had followed closely the development that prompted series of protests by some Itsekiri communities over the calls for PIA implementations on their land”.
“Our findings on the issues revealed that the protests that took place in front of the NNPCL’s building that hosts the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the Nigerian Midstream Petroleum Authority (NMPA) in Warri about the same time, was a genuine protest that was meant to serve the collective interest of the people in accordance with the provisions of the PIA, especially as it concerns the host communities.”
“It is on record that none of these protests were targeted at any particular individual while it lasted. The entire protest was a genuine clamor and justifiable demand by a people that the right thing to be done and a due process be followed in the implementation of the PIA in the best interests of the community indigenes who had been deprived their benefits by selfish individuals who claimed to be serving their interest”.
“We therefore see this report as malicious, unfounded and a total falsehood, and as a calculated attempt by some mischief makers to bring disaffection between the person of NNPCL’s GCEO, Mr. Melee Kyari and the representatives of the host communities in the ongoing negotiations for the PIA implementation”.
“Consequently, we urge the NNPCL boss, Mr, Melee Kyari, and the members of the public to discountenance the said publication, as it was designed by the enemies of Iwere kingdom to bring disaffections between the itsekiri people and the person of the GCEO of NNPCL”, the group concluded.
