From TONY JOHN, Port Harcourt
A group of landlords in the swamp areas which play host to Nigerian Agip Oil Company ( NAOC) has threatened to shut down the operations of the multi-national company over an alleged lopsided appointment and marginalisation by the firm.
The group through its leaders, Onisoya Odum, at a press conference in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, at the weekend, said the activities of the oil company was detrimental to the host communities and appealed to the state government to set up a panel of inquiry to ascertain the alleged marginalisation against them.
Odum said the key positions in the company were shared to non-indigenes, even when they did not have the requisite qualification, adding that the situation was tantamount to ethnic cleansing.
He alleged that the millions of dollars being siphoned through huge operational contracts under this scheme might be used in sponsoring the activities of the the Indigenous People of Biafra ( IPOB) in the Niger Delta states particularly, Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta, where the company predominantly has its operations.
He stated: “About 23 indigenes of Rivers and Bayelsa States in high positions in the company were either sacked or relegated and replaced by people outside their host communities”.
The group threatened that except the alleged ethnic cleansing in the company stops and the indigenous people, particularly from Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta states are immediately reinstated,they the host communities will not hesitate to occupy all the operations bases of the oil and gas company.
“We will not fall to mobilize ourselves to shut down operations if our voice is not heard”, he warned.
Efforts to reach the Community Relations Manager of NAOC Denis Maxi to react to the allegations was unsuccessful.
