Ogona Anita
A Niger Delta group, the Buckingham Palace Group, has frowned at calls by some ex-Niger Delta agitators for the cancellation of the surveillance contract awarded to Pipeline Infrastructure Nigeria Limited, PINL, and the trumped up allegations of marginalisation of community youths, involvement in bunkering activities against Olu of Warri, His Majesty, Ogiame Atuwatse III.
The ex-agitators under the aegis of Aggressive Niger Delta Freedom Fighters Forum recently issued a statement circulated on social media, calling on the Presidency to terminate the legally awarded pipeline surveillance contract to the PINL on the basis of the above allegations.
But, Buckingham Palace Group in a statement by Kenny Amgbare, Public Relations Officer and Festus Ederekumor, Vice President, absolved PINL and the Olu of Warri of any wrongdoing, and described the allegations as “baseless, wild, weightless, and inflammatory”.
The group said the allegations by the ex-agitators were ill-conceived and self- serving.
On the allegations of marginalization of host communities/youth leaders the group said it was untrue, stating that PINL has consistently operated within a framework of inclusiveness, equity, and local content by maintaining active engagements with host communities through employment for all host community youths, capacity building initiatives, skills acquisition programs, and regular consultations with community leaders and stakeholders through its monthly stakeholders engagements.
Buckingham Group dismissed the allegation on involvement in bunkering activities, noting that PINL operates under the direct supervision of federal agencies to defend and deter, not abet, vandalism and oil theft on national pipeline infrastructure. It added that to accuse the same security contractor of enabling the very crimes it exists to combat is to misunderstand both logic and law.
The group also said the allegations of sponsoring conflicts within the host communities was untrue as PINL operational ethos was rooted in peacebuilding; “Ranging from brokering dialogue to supporting reconciliation, the company is a quiet stabilizer that has invested in harmony, not hostility; building, bridging and mending. If there is any fire, it is not lit by this firm,” it said.
Clarifying on the alleged forceful renaming of communities the group said PINL, as a private entity, had neither the authority nor interest in such claims; “To suggest that either PINL or His Majesty, the Olu of Warri, seeks to rename Ijaw communities is to peddle a dangerous politically motivated and ethnically divisive narrative wrapped in fabrication and must be disregarded in its entirety”, the Buckingham Group said.
It insisted that territorial boundaries were not the playgrounds of corporate ambition stressing that PINL, a private infrastructure company with a defined license and operational mandate by the Federal Government, had neither sought nor claimed ownership of land be it Ijaw or otherwise. It emphasized that the company did not, and could not draw boundary lines or alter land jurisdictions, saying that the allegations was both misleading and incendiary.
The group averred that it was a well known fact that the activities of PINL has led to increase in oil production and more revenue for the Federal Government through its achievement of near-zero infractions on the Trans Niger Pipeline, TNP, in the last one year.
While urging the public to disregard the claims by the ex-agitators, the group enjoined them to see through the veil of propaganda and reject the divisive agenda that lied beneath it.
It said: “These allegations are not the cries of justice rather they are the chants of opportunism. Their authors do not speak for the Niger Delta. They speak only for themselves”.
The Buckingham Palace Group however, restated its unwavering support for Pipeline Infrastructure Nigeria Ltd and for His Majesty, the Olu of Warri, whose reign they said had been marked by vision, peace, and dignity.
It further cautioned all public commentators to be careful with their comments, pursue dialogue in addressing their grievances so as not to cause crisis in the Niger Delta region.
It also called on all stakeholders including traditional institutions, community leaders, youth organizations, and civil society groups in the region to stand united against manipulation and to preserve the existing peace in order to deepen development in the Niger Delta.
