Leaders of the Ijaw Youths Network have picked holes in the comments of a former minister of Defence, Maj Gen Tajudeen Olanrewaju (rtd) on the grisly murder of 16 officers and soldiers of the Nigerian Army by Okuama youths over land dispute.
In a reaction to the killing which shocked the entire country, Olanrewaju attempted to link the killing of the soldiers to the collaborative protection of the nation’s oil pipeline between private security outfits, the military and security agencies.
The group said that Gen Olanrewaju’s claim that it is unsafe for non-state actors to protect oil installations in the country at this critical time is curious and wrong.
The IYN in a statement yesterday by its coordinator, Frank Ebikabo and secretary, Federal Ebiaridor, said the retired general’s claims only re-echoed the same “misguided and false narrative” being peddled by frustrated oil thieves and their cohorts who did not get the pipeline contract of the NNPCL.
IJN said the utterances of a man who rose to the rank of General and one-time minister of Communication should not bear semblance with those exploiting the disturbing death of the nation’s military personnel to push an obvious economic interest.
The youths said Gen Olanrewaju should be condoling with the institution that produced him, the Nigerian Army at its moment of grief and “not to dabble into, or steer needless controversy.”
The IYN leadership said that Olanrewaju should be concerned about how to track down and arrest those who brazenly assaulted the collective peace, safety and security of the country.
The group said the former minister cannot claim ignorance of massive theft of the nation’s oil resources by a virulent cabal comprising Nigerians and their evil foreign collaborators which made former Presidents Goodluck Jonathan, Muhammadu Buhari and the NNPC to explore the use of capable private security outfits to complement the efforts of the military and security outfits.
IYN said the general is aware of the relentless pursuit of the oil thieves in the coastal waters and creeks of the Niger Delta with several arrests of rogue vessels in the region by Tantita Security Services Limited.
The group urged President Bola Tinubu and the NNPCL to continue with the decisive policy against oil theft which has increased oil production.
