The leadership of the Labour Party has labelled the reported ‘mechanical completion’ and the ‘flare start-off’ of the country’s biggest crude refinery in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, as a sham.

This was even as the ruling All Progressives Congress cautioned the Labour Party against misleading the public, stressing that it is not every issue that should be politicised.

The development comes one week after the Federal Government, through the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Heineken Lokpobiri, announced the near-completion of the Port Harcourt refinery during a media tour on the penultimate Thursday.

The two-unit refinery has a combined refining capacity of 210,000 barrels per day, with the old plant having an output of 60,000 barrels per day and the new plant churning out 150,000 bpd.

But the leadership of the Labour Party thinks otherwise, insisting that it was another ploy by the APC government to allegedly pull a wool over the faces of Nigerians.

In an exclusive chat with our correspondent, the Chief Spokesman for the Labour Party Campaign Organisation, Yunusa Tanko, claimed the party has it on good authority that the start-off of the plant as being reported was stage-managed.

He said, “We hear that they have completed the mechanical works. This particular gas flare in Port Harcourt refinery is a deceit. It is another lie to deceive the Nigerian people. We used to know that once we began to have gas flaring up, some oil would be produced at the same time.

“But in this case, there is no single oil drop. That’s why we are saying this particular gas flaring they are trying to make everyone talk about is deceit. There was nothing like that. They have not been able to work on that refinery conclusively. It is a lie.

“If they are sure about the fact, let them prove us wrong. What happened is that some people just went and switched on the power generator to start up that particular gas flaring to deceive the Nigerian people.”

Reacting to the development, Deputy National Organising Secretary of the APC, Nze Chidi Duru, appealed for understanding, saying the operation of the Port Harcourt refinery is a privately funded project, which has nothing to do with the FG.

Duru also warned opposition parties to always engage in constructive criticisms with a view to proffering solutions to the myriad problems in the country instead of seeking to score cheap points against the government of the day.

“It (refinery) is working and functional. But it has nothing to do with the government because it is a private sector-led initiative. So if the FG has made an announcement that it is working, we have every reason it will work. If it doesn’t work, they know it will damage their brand, and people may no longer believe them.

“But as I said earlier, it has nothing to do with the APC government. It is Indorama Petrochemicals that is behind it and not the Federal Government. That was why I said it is not everything we should play politics with in this country. It is a private sector-led initiative,” he stated. (The PUNCH)

•Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Heineken Lokpobiri and LP Campaign Organisation Chief Spokesman, Yunusa Tanko

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