- Consults Obasanjo
- Fresh attack on Forcados pipeline worsens power supply
- Ijaw leaders meet in Warri Okowa condemns killing of soldiers
President Muhammadu Buhari has stepped
up efforts to find a lasting solution to the renewed militancy in the
Niger Delta by holding a private meeting with former President Goodluck
Jonathan on Thursday night at his residence in Aso Rock, Abuja.
As a follow up to the meeting with
Jonathan, Buhari also met with former president Olusegun Obasanjo
yesterday at the Presidential Villa.
The meeting with Obasanjo came on the heels of fresh attack on Forcados pipeline by the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA).
The destruction of oil facilities in the
region by the militants had crippled Nigeria’s crude oil production and
power supply, with crude production recovering from a loss of 1.1
million barrels per day to about 1.6 million barrels per day. By
yesterday, power generation had dropped to 2,832.5MW.
A source very close to Jonathan said the
former president’s meeting with Buhari lasted about 35 minutes and
focused mainly on how to get the Niger Delta militants to agree to a
ceasefire.
THISDAY checks reveal Buhari specifically requested Jonathan to intervene in the crisis.
Obasanjo arrived Aso Rock Villa yesterday in company of Otunba Johnson Fasawe at about 1pm.
His meeting with Buhari was held behind closed doors and the details were not made available to the media.
When Obasanjo emerged from Buhari’s office, he declined comments.
It was also confirmed that Jonathan’s
return to the country from self-exile in Cote D’Ivoire and the
subsequent meeting with Buhari on Thursday
was triggered by an earlier story exclusviely reported by THISDAY
newspaper indicating that the former president had gone on self-exile
for fear of being arrested.
According to multiple sources, following
THISDAY’s report on Jonathan’s self-exile, Buhari was said to have
telephoned him and after several back channel diplomacy between
Jonathan, himself and Cote D’Ivoire president, Alhassan Quatarra,
assurances were given that Jonathan was free to return home and help the
quest for solution to the Niger Delta crisis.
According to the source, Buhari and
Jonathan discussed the speculations about possible EFCC arrest and
Buhari was said to have assured Jonathan that if the EFCC finds anything
against him, he would be given the opportunity befitting of a former
president to respond and make clarification. This assurance gave
Jonathan the comfort and confidence to return home. Buhari’s Democracy
Day praises heaped on Jonathan were designed as a confidence building to
further assure him that he was free to return home and that the
government was not going to arrest him,” added another source.
These intrigues are a further
confirmation of THISDAY’s report that Jonathan had indeed gone on
self-exile to avoid humiliation of arrest.
Fresh attack on Forcados pipeline worsens power supply…
Meanwhile, there seems to be no end in
sight to the current poor power supply in the country as yesterday
morning attack on the Forcados pipeline by the Niger Delta Avengers
(NDA) will further delay the completion of the repair works on the
pipeline, which were initially scheduled for completion on May 29.
THISDAY gathered that power supply, which peaked at 3,087.6 MW on Thursday, dropped to 2,832.5MW as at 6.00am by yesterday.
The NDA in an e-mail statement claimed that it attacked the 48-inch Forcados pipeline at 3.00am yesterday because of Shell’s refusal to stop the repairs of the damage caused by the February attack on the pipeline.
In a separate e-mail, which was also
signed by the spokesman of the militant group, Brig-General Mudoch
Agbinibo, it denied involvement in the attack of the Military houseboat
around Warri, Delta State, stressing that “killing of sleeping soldiers
is not our style.”
The militant group said it had promised
the world that in this process of liberating its people, not a single
blood of Nigerian soldiers would be wasted despite the provocation.
“Even the inhumane Nigeria soldiers are
exempted, our war is on oil installations not to take innocent lives.
For the fact that we can’t give life, we also don’t have the power to
take any life. But we (Avengers) are assuring the families of the
affected soldiers that we will bring the culprits to book. When it’s
time to face the military in combat, let the whole world know that we
won’t be the ones to throw the first punch.
“This message is going to all groups
parading themselves as freedom fighters. You can fight for your people
without killing innocent souls. NDA has proved that. We were able to
drop Nigeria Oil production from 2 million barrels to just 800,000
barrels without killing a soul. We are warning every group to follow our
footsteps. The days of killings and kidnappings are over,” the group
explained.
On the attack on the Forcados pipeline,
the group said: “We warned SPDC not to go ahead with the repair work but
they refused. This is an example to all other multinationals”.
The group had attacked the Forcados pipeline, which caused the February 14 oil spill on Forcados terminal subsea crude oil export pipeline.
Shell had on February 21, 2016 declared force majeure on exports of Forcados grade of crude oil, following the disruption in production caused by the spill.
Before the incident, Nigeria was
producing 2.3 million barrels of crude oil per day and almost 250,000
barrels a day of oil were scheduled to be exported from the Forcados
stream in both February and March.
The Forcados export terminal has the
capacity to export about 400,000 b/d. The Minister of State for
Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu confirmed that the incident curbed the
country’s production – which was previously at 2.3m b/d – by 300,000
b/d, thus hampering the country’s efforts to achieve the target of 2.4m
b/d for 2016.
Forcados pipeline is owned by the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), a subsidiary of NNPC, but is operated by Shell.
While Kachikwu, said repairs on the
pipeline could take up to May 2016 to complete, Shell later confirmed
that the repairs would be completed on May 29 2016.
THISDAY however gathered that the
repairs were not completed on May 29 as scheduled before the militants
carried out another attack yesterday.
Group spokesman of NNPC, Mr. Garuba Deen
Muhammad declined to comment when contacted by THISDAY but a source at
the corporation had told THISDAY that apart from the militants’ threats
on contractors handling the repair works, the delivery of the parts of
the pipelines flown into the country to the site is also being hampered
by security threats in the region.
“The militants have been threatening the
contractors and the threats affected the delivery of the imported parts
meant for the repairs,” he had said.
Shell Nigeria spokesman, Mr. Precious Okolobo, had also told THISDAY that repairs on the export pipeline were still ongoing.
“Repairs are continuing. It is a complex
process and we want to complete the repairs in very safe manner as soon
as possible,” Okolobo added.
The closure of the Forcados pipeline,
which also accounts for 40-50 per cent of the country’s gas production,
also led to the current drop in power generation.
The pipeline is a crude oil facility,
but the gas and liquid condensates produced from gas fields in the
western Niger Delta are evacuated through the pipeline, hence its
closure has also affected the supply of gas to the power stations.
With the sustained attacks on oil and gas facilities, power generation, which peaked at 5.074MW on February 2, slumped to an all-time low of 1,400MW on May 9, according to the official report by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).
Peak generation on Thursday was 3,087.6 MW, but the daily operational report also showed that generation as at 6.00am yesterday was 2,832.5MW.
Shell has confirmed signs of a leak on
the 48-inch Forcados export pipeline at a location between shoreline and
the Forcados Terminal in Delta State which members of the NDA attacked.
In a statement, Bamidele Odugbesan,
spokesman of Shell, said that the company was yet “to fully evaluate the
potential impact and damage to the pipeline resulting from this latest
incident.”
However, he disclosed that a team of
engineers and experts were already doing a proper assessment and
evaluation of the situation for possible response.
Ijaw Leaders Meet in Warri, Review Crisis in Niger Delta…
Also yesterday, Ijaw leaders from seven
states that make up the Niger Delta met in Warri, Delta State yesterday
to deliberate on the renewed violence in the region with focus on the
destruction of critical infrastructure by the NDA.
The Ijaw leaders were drawn from the 78
Ijaw clans, traditional institutions and social political bodies from
Bayelsa, Delta, Rivers, Edo, Akwa Ibom, Ondo, Delta state.
Displaced women and children from
several Ijaw communities in Gbaramatu kingdom who escaped the onslaught
by soldiers also used the ocassion to narrate their ordeals in the hands
of soldiers at the meeting.
The meeting which was at the instance of
the Ijaw National Congress (INC) revealed humanitarian crisis in
several communities including Oporoza, Kunukunu-Amu, Okokodiagbene,
Benikruku, Kurutie, Okerekolo, Naifor, Azakrama, Kenghangbene, Igoba and
several others.
Many Ijaw leaders who spoke at the
meeting condemned the invasion and occupation of the communities and
called for meaningful consultations between the federal government and
Ijaws for the immediate resolution of the crises.
In his contribution, INC Secretary, Dr. Bibobra Bello Orubebe said several Ijaw people could not be accounted for up till now.
“Our people are starving and being molested without recourse to minimum international human rights standards in law enforcement.
“Ijaw children who went to write NECO
are stranded and several of our people are in the forest and the wounded
unattended. The situation is dire” he said.
The INC condemned the use of violence by
both civilians and the federal government and urged parties to the
crises to respect the sanctity of human lives, livelihood, economy,
culture and environment of the Ijaw people.
The foremost Ijaw body also explained
why they shunned the invitation on the flag off of the UNEP clean-up
ceremony at Ogoni, Rivers state noting that government cannot be killing
their people and expect them to honour the Ogoni clean-up flag off.
Ita Enang: FG Reaching Out to Niger Delta Governors
The federal government has jettisoned
its earlier threat to crush the militants operating under the aegis of
Niger Delta Avengers and instead opted for dialogue with governors and
stakeholders in the region with a view to halting protracted destruction
of oil pipelines in the region.
The Senior Special Assistant to
President Muhammadu Buhari on National Assembly Matters, Senator Ita
Enang stated this yesterday.
He said some ministers along with top
government officials from the Niger Delta had opened talks with
governors and aggrieved people from the region on how to amicably
resolve the conflict.
Enang said government was prepared to peacefully resolve the conflict.
He listed federal government’s
representatives engaged in dialogue with stakeholders in Niger Delta to
include the Minister of Interior, General Abdulrahman Dambazau; Minister
of Niger Delta, Usani Uguru; Co-ordinator, Amnesty Office, General Paul
Boroh (rtd.), and other ministers from the region.
“The Minister of Niger Delta, the
Minister of Interior, the Coordinator of the Amnesty Office have been
taking actions consistent with their powers and what I know, almost all
the ministers and officers from the Niger Delta region have returned to
their respective states, their respective zones and their respective
blocks to talk to their leaders and their aggrieved persons on the need
for us to maintain peace.
“That is going on and they are the
representatives of Mr. President. So, I will not tell you what Mr.
President wants to do in person but these are officers and offices which
are dealing with this matter.
“We have lost the earnings in terms of
price; so we shouldn’t lose earnings in terms of production. I am sure
that you are aware that we budgeted 2.2 million barrel per day and
production few weeks ago, lowered to 1.4 million per day and it is
climbing to 1.6 million and 1.7 million per day and that is capable of
affecting the money expected from oil. These are the things we are
preaching to our people and preaching to the governors of our respective
states.
“The Minister of Niger Delta, the
Amnesty Office, the Minister of Interior are all carrying these messages
to the governors that they should stand up and work and not sit down
and watch,” he said.
Okowa Condemns Killing of Soldiers, Civilians…
In a related development, Delta State
Governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, has condemned the recent killing of
soldiers, and other civilians, who were on their legitimate assignments,
in a houseboat attack, in Omadino, Warri South of Delta State, by
suspected Militants.
In a statement by his Chief Press
Secretary, Charles Ehiedu Aniagwu, Okowa noted that the killing was
criminality carried too far as nothing justifies the taking of lives of
uniformed security men who are out to protect the common property of
Nigerians.
“Your activities could turn Delta State
into a theatre of war and this portends great danger to the whole
population aside from casting the image of the state as insecure and
unfit for investment. We cannot, as a state, afford this rascality if we
hope to make progress”, he said.
“For the umpteenth time, I wish to call
on well-meaning people of Delta State to speak up and not only condemn
the activities of these militants but also offer their best counsel and
commitment towards resolving this crisis,” Okowa said.
Governor Okowa also advised members of
the Niger Delta Avengers to embrace dialogue as a means of resolving the
crisis, adding that a peaceful and secured Delta is what is needed for
development to thrive.
IYC Raise the Alarm…
The Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) also raised
the alarm yesterday, saying that the current conflict in the Niger
Delta region was sliding out of control.
The group lamented the reported killing
of soldiers and civilians as well as invasion of communities in the
region at the wake of the offensive.
It therefore called on President Buhari to take personal and urgent responsibility to curtail the rising trend.
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