The Delta State Govern
ment has vowed to deal harshly with persons or groups who are in the habit of sabotaging oil facilities in the state in the guise of protest warning that the government would deal with them as economic saboteurs.
In a warning to a group called Egbema Radical Group that claimed responsibility for the Dibi pipeline explosion, the state Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan said the state and federal governments could be blackmailed by acts of sabotage, and insisted that the group would be dealt with as such.
It would be recalled that a group of youth in Warri North last week owned up to sabotaging a major oil pipeline in Dibi which belongs to Chevron Nigeria Limited.
The youth group vowed to do more if the state Government and Chevron fail to meet certain conditions.
Uduaghan observed that the excuse being given by those sabotaging oil facilities in the state were woven around one grievance or the other but advised anyone or group with genuine case to channel such through legitimate routes and get them sorted out.
He specifically said that crude oil theft and kidnapping have been substantially reduced, but regretted that some unscrupulous persons have now made a new habit out of sabotaging oil and gas facilities in the state. “There has been a prevalence of this in the last two weeks,” he said.
The Governor stated that neither the Delta State Government nor the Federal Government would be blackmailed through these acts and hinted that the state government was prepared and ready to go after the saboteurs.
“Neither the Delta State Government, nor the Federal Government would be blackmailed through these acts, anyone who has a genuine grievance should channel such through appropriate avenues and get them addressed,” he maintained.