A Niger Delta group, the Buckingham Palace Group has condemned the attack on the Olu of Warri and the Pipeline Infrastructure Nigeria Limited (PINL) over the pipeline surveillance contract awarded to PINL
The ex-Niger Delta agitators, Aggressive Niger Delta Freedom Fighters,had in a statement which went viral on social media called for the cancellation of the surveillance contract awarded to PINL by the federal government.
The group also accused the PINL of marginalizing community youths in their operations, even as they alleged the involvement of the Olu of Warri, Ogiame Atuwatse III in bunkering activities.
But, the 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, describing 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 and youth leaders, the group said that PINL has consistently operated within a framework of inclusiveness, equity, and local content by maintaining active engagements with host communities.
The group dismissed the allegation of 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 oil 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 host communities was untrue as PINL operational ethos was rooted in peace-building.
Clarifying on the alleged forceful renaming of communities the group said PINL, as a private entity, has neither the authority nor interest in such claims;
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“To suggest that either PINL or 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 Palace Group stated.
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 were 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, 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 lies beneath it.