Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja
The Itsekiri Progressive Youth Movement, (IPYM) has called on the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, and other relevant security agencies to investigate the alleged threats to life recently raised by the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), Bayo Ojulari.
While playing host to a delegation from the Petroleum & Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) led by its President, Festus Osifo, the GCEO had alleged that certain forces were not comfortable with the reforms he has introduced to instill sanity in the oil sector.
He maintained that the reforms have unsettled the forces who benefit tremendously from the current inefficiencies in the oil and gas sector, particularly the comatose shape of the nation’s four refineries.
But the IPYM, in a statement issued at the weekend noted that an orchestrated protest staged in Abuja calling on President Bola Tinubu to sack Ojulari and his alarm of threats to life should not be treated with levity by security agencies.
The statement signed by Jerry Atiene and Romeo Ogedegbe, National Chairman and General Secretary, respectively, declared that security agents must unmask individuals behind the threats to life of the NNPC boss.
“We were deeply troubled when the NNPC boss, Bashir Bayo Ojulari, disclosed that his life and those of the company’s management staff were being threatened.
“Patriotic Nigerians and critical stakeholders should be worried by Ojulari’s statement that his offence was introducing reforms in the oil and gas sector, in line with President Bola Tinubu’s determination to revive the moribund public refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna.
“Security agencies should swing into action immediately, to unmask those behind the threats and blackmail..,” the statement added.
While positing that the Ojulari-must-go protest in Abuja was a classical case of corruption fighting back, IPYM called on the GCEO not to be deterred in his resolve to make the NNPC profit-oriented and ensure the four public owned refineries across the country work optimally.
The group further pleaded with Nigerians to give the Ojulari-led management of NNPC more time to turn around the fortunes of Nigeria’s public refineries toward a progressive trajectory and contribute more meaningfully to national development.
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