Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) yesterday announced its pullout from guarding Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) pipelines nationwide.

Spokesman for Gani Adams faction of the congress, Mr Yinka Oguntimehin told the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos that the pullout would be effective from yesterday evening.

Oguntimehin said that this became necessary because the NNPC had yet to start paying for the work its men are doing.

He said the corporation was, as part of the contractual agreement entered into, three months ago, expected to start payment.

The spokesman said that the OPC personnel had continued to guard the pipelines with the belief that the corporation would pay as promised.

“When we were given the contract on March 15, it was agreed that they would release money for the OPC personnel for effective protection of the NNPC pipelines nationwide.

“We lost one man last month because of the activities of the vandals here in Lagos, while some of our men were arrested in the course of protecting the pipeline.

“We had told them to release some of our money before the new administration took over, but they kept promising us.

“Enough is enough, three months have passed since our members started monitoring the pipeline, and we have fulfilled our part of the agreement.

“By 10p.m today, our personnel will move out of the NNPC pipelines nationwide and this applies to other groups in the country.”

The Federal Government had in March awarded a multi-billion naira contract to the OPC to secure NNPC pipelines in the South-West Zone of the country.

•Photo shows Gani Adams.