Nosa Eresoyen, Asaba
In order to ensure that the activities of pipeline vandals, sea piracy, oil bunkering and other criminal tendency are put to check in the coaster region of the country, Riverine Security outfit (Coast Guard of the Federation), has embarked on the recruitment of members of the O’odua Peoples’ Congress, (OPC) in the coastal region.
Some of the leaders of Oodua Peoples’ Congress, during the recruitment exercise are: Asore Nurudeen, Mufutau Adejumo (Osun state), Prince Adeleke Ajala, Babatunde Ogunrinola (Oyo State)AkeemJimoh, James Ajekogun (Lagos State),
Hammed Adeniyi, Femi Olusola (OgunState), Fabiyi Adebanjo, Kehinde Ishola (Kwara State) and Rasheed Bello, SolaOjo from (Ekiti State) among others.
Speaking to newsmen on Wednesday, the Commandant General of the Riverine Security (Coast Guard of the Federation), Commander BibiOduku, said after several hours of meeting with some of the OPC leaders from South-West, they agreed that one of the measures was crime prevention, particularly in protecting oil installations across the coaster communities.
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Commander Oduku explained that the security outfit had earlier commenced the recruitment of ex-militant leaders and agitators from the Niger Delta, noting that the recruitment of OPC members will aid the fight against criminalities as they would work in collaboration with Joint Task Force, (JTF) personnel and other security agents.
According to him, “we are currently working on getting maps of oil pipelines from different communities in the coastal region. Our men will be stationed in different communities where oil and gas installations are located for prompt response and intervention should there be any security breach.
“We are ready to confront vandals headlong, because we will not allow a small number of criminals hijack our collective wealth. We have also been brainstorming with some leaders in South-East and North-Central on how best to maintain peace in this region and ensure that the fragile security situation does not get worse.”