Stop, you‘re killing Delta, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa cries out to the militants

Reacting to developments in the region, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State has appealed to
militants blowing up oil installations in the state to reconsider their actions, as bombing of oil facilities by the was affecting the state negatively.

The governor made the call while commissioning Jeddo/Ughoton road in Okpe Local Government Area of the state, as part of activities to mark his one year in office.

He said: “The pipeline vandalism that is going on is very bad for Delta State, we are suffering from pollution, our communities are affected, and we are the greatest losers; our communities are impacted negatively.

“I want to appeal to our brothers who are involved in one way or the other in these vandalism to stop, we cannot destroy ourselves in order to make a point, there are more civil ways of channeling grievances which we should apply than vandalizing pipelines and endangering our people.”

Also, the military yesterday deployed fighter jets and surveillance aircraft to the Egbema-Ijaw area of Warri North Local Government Area of the state, to search for Niger Delta Avengers, NDA.

The presence of the fighter jets generated fear among the residents, who cried out they were not members of NDA and would never be part of it.

 President of Delta Ijaw Peace Movement, Mr Smart Asekutu, who is from the area, told Vanguard that some of his people called him to alert him about the deployment of fighter jets in the area.

He said:  “We welcome the military operation in Delta State to stop the bombing of oil and gas pipelines by militants, but I want to say that Egbema people are not part of Avengers, so the military should tread carefully.

“We have Chevron facilities in our area and nobody had touched them because we do not believe in what the militants are doing, that is not to say that they may not be criminals in Egbema. But if the military identify them, they should isolate them and dealt with them.”