Rivers Govt To Prosecute House Of Reps Member Over Illegal Bunkering

The Rivers State government has said it will prosecute a member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Chinyere Igwe, who owns a filling station in Port Harcourt, for alleged illegal oil bunkering.

Igwe’s filling station was earlier sealed-off on Friday by security operatives attached to the Rivers State Government House.

The filling station was among three other private business centres, owned by loyalists of a former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Chief Austin Opara, a prominent member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) supporting the presidential candidate of the party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, that were sealed-off by the state government.

The State governor, Nyesom Wike, disclosed the State government’s plan on Saturday during the flag-off ceremony for the construction of internal road network in Omagwa in the Ikwerre local government area of the state.

Although the governor did not mention the owner of the facility in question, however, the House of Representatives member has confirmed that that the sealed petrol station belongs to him.

While speaking, the governor had asked security agencies in the state to identify and arrest the owner of the sealed filling station for allegedly trading in illegally refined petroleum products.

He said the state government has spent a lot of funds in fighting the activities of economic saboteurs and will not relent at this point, no matter the social status or political leaning of anyone involved.

Wike vowed to deploy all his might against anyone who has benefitted from the state and would turn to work with the enemies of the state.

The governor referred such people to understand the Russian politics of President Vladimir Putin and his friends, on how anyone who reneges on a deal is treated.

He furiously sounded a note of warning to his former allies who together with him planned the removal of a national chairman of the PDP, but are now going to hold meetings with the said former national chairman in Abuja.

Wike equally warned the current National Assembly candidates of the PDP in the state, not to take the votes of the people for granted, asserting that anything is possible before and after the 2023 elections.