Group Nabs Agip Pipeline Vandals In Bayelsa

A group of armed youth from Ikienghenbiri community in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, believed to have blown up a major oil pipeline belonging to Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) with dynamites have been arrested.
The arrest was effected after a heavy gun battle between the group and a rival organisation which is heavily backed by security agents.
The suspects allegedly led by Suoyou, Iyelawei and Fyneboy, were said to be responsible for the vandalisation of the pipeline along the Azuzuama–Ikienghenbiri axis of the trunk line conveying crude oil from the Nigerian Agip Oil Company flow station at Tebidaba to Brass.
A statement issued by Bayelsa State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Jonathan Obuebite, which confirmed the incident said, “the pipeline vandals were apprehended by youth of Azuzuama community, who got wind of the planned action.”
They were arrested with the support of operatives of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and one of them was shot in the leg while trying to escape, the statement indicated.
Obuebite expressed delight that the arrests were coming on the heels of Governor Seriake Dickson’s meeting with traditional rulers and chairmen of Community Development Committees (CDCs) where the governor directly placed the responsibility of maintaining peace and safeguarding oil facilities in their domains on their shoulders.
The commissioner praised the youth of Azuzuama community “for their gallantry, patriotic disposition and commitment to the peace and economic well being of the state and Nigeria as a whole.”
According to him, Dickson would “invite them and reward them for responding positively to his clarion call when it mattered most.”
Obuebite also called on other communities to emulate the Azuzuama community, adding that, “if every other community can act in like manner, the current wave of attacks on national assets and related criminal acts will be drastically minimised, if not completely eliminated.”
He re-assured community leaders and youths of government’s preparedness to continue to support and partner with them in the protection of lives and property.