The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to thread softly with the award of an oil pipeline protection contract in order not to trigger a violent crisis in the Niger Delta region.

MOSOP President, Fegalo Nsuke, who stated this in Bori, headquarters of Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State said previous governments in Nigeria encouraged rebellion in the Niger Delta via such contract, thereby encouraging the militarization of the civil population.

He said that rather than militarize the civil population under the pretext of securing the oil and gas pipelines, Tinubu should equip and motivate the armed forces to secure national assets in the region.

He accused previous administrations of encouraging rebellion in the Niger Delta through security contracts for oil pipeline protection thereby encouraging the militarization of the civil population.

Fegalo said: “We will strongly caution the President against empowering civilians to take over the responsibility of the security forces under the guise of protecting oil pipelines because it ends up increasing the amount of arms within the reach of the civil population.

“We will rather advise Mr President to equip the armed forces to effectively secure the oil assets in the delta in the most professional ways….

“While there are issues with the conduct of some military personnel in the Niger Delta region, they are still a better and more professional force to secure the country and arming civilians to do their job should not be an option”.

The MOSOP leader blamed the decay in the system on state corruption and urged the government to lead by example.

He said: “As a matter of fact, it is not strange that state corruption has aided oil thieves to operate in the delta and pollute the region in connivance with some military personnel.

“This should not be strange in a corrupt system like ours where we get reports of billions of Naira being stolen daily by those in government”

“When the leaders steal and we get the reports daily and there are no consequences, it becomes really difficult to expect the citizens including military officers to be exceptionally patriotic. So, the corruption is pervasive because it trickles down from the leadership”.

He also called on the President to strongly consider the implementation of an Ogoni Development Authority since the Ogoni are a distinct ethnic nationality whose protection is guaranteed as of right under the Nigerian constitution and other international instruments. (New Telegraph)