Concerned environmental groups and ethnic youth leaders have welcomed the findings from the joint investigation visit that attributed the recent oil spillage in Nembe (Bayelsa State) to human sabotage.
Friends of the Environment and Nigerian Ethnic Youth Leaders Council were among the groups that responded to the findings.
They described the report that human sabotage caused this spillage as a truth based upon science and facts that must have all stakeholders applaud.
They agreed that the findings should have been used to catch the culprits and prevent future events.
Applauding AITEO for its findings, the groups said that they had no fear since the beginning. AITEO is a socially responsible company and the spillage could not have been caused.
They claimed that the report, which absolved the company from any fault or wrongdoing, further supported the old saying that if lies travel for twenty years, the truth will catch it up in one day.
This is a vindication of AITEO. Findings have shown that the spill, as we have been suspecting from the beginning, was an act of sabotage by enemies of the Federal Government and a plot to undermine President Buhari’s Niger Delta agenda, a joint statement read.
The Arewa Consultative Youth Movement and Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Movement, Oduduwa Youths, Middle Belt Youths, supported the findings.
The Niger Delta Youth Movement (NDYM), regrets that, while experts in the field believe the spillage was a sabotage, Bayelsa State Governments agents used emotion to find scape goats.
The findings show that the Bayelsa State Government has been playing on the emotions of the people in the area, and indeed all stakeholders.
The groups stated in a statement that they hope the state government will accept the evidence and science-based conclusions presented to them, and make a public apology for its previous position on the matter.
Friends of the Environment, a popular environmental rights group, stated in a separate statement that the state government should not overlook the issue of the six people who were on the scene at 2.30am when the spillage occurred.
It said in a statement” Six persons were said to have been arrested at the scene at an ungodly hour of about 2.30am. This is a crucial revelation that should not be ignored by the state government or any other concerned parties.
In a separate statement, the Arewa Consultative Youth Movement said that the findings leave no one in doubt about the cause of the spillage.
Even the man from Ministry of Environment, who had expressed reservations, was convinced after an expert addressed his concerns, ACYM stated in statement.
Nduka-Edede Chinomso (coordinator of the African Centre for Justice and Human Rights) stated that the findings were the result of President Buhari’s efforts to generate revenue and preserve the environment.
It said: Evidence from the joint investigation panel confirms earlier information that the spill was an act of national sabotage by enemies of the Buhari regime to sabotage the Federal Governments revenue drive, destabilise the Niger Delta region and undermine the Presidents ongoing peace building efforts in that region.”