Group Lauds JTF’s Over Battle Against Oil Thieves

The Lt. Col
Nwachukwu-led Joint Military Task Force (JTF) in the Niger Delta has received a pat on the back over its determination to rid the region of oil thieves.
The President of Niger Delta Coalition Against Violence (NDCAV) Comrade Christian Lekia, said this while fielding questions from newsmen in Port Harcourt, Saturday.
He charged the JTF to ensure that they are not part of the thieves they are supposed to be chasing as was reported in the past, in order to maintain the confidence the people have on them.
Lekia, who is also a rights activities, frowned at a situation where business men from parts of the country sponsor illegal oil bunkering in the Niger Delta area.
He described such development as barbaric and called for the prosecution of any of such persons no matter how highly placed.
The Ogoni non-violence crusader, said illegal oil business has never done anyone good, but rather has made the people to suffer some untold hardship.
Drafting his point from the background of oil spillage, he said all communities that have experienced it are yet to regain all they have lost in both human and natural resources.
He also called on the Niger Deltans to see oil thieves as core enemies of the region, adding that they should aid the military to fish them out.
The Tide recently learnt that the Lt. Col. Nwachukwu team, discovered about 42 illegal refineries in the Niger Delta with close to five arrests.
It was also gathered that crude oil now flows from taps in Kogi State as a result of oil thieves who now fill underground tanks with crude oil.