The Ijaw Youth Council has said the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) is being untruthful in claims that it carried out an attack on the Port Harcourt refinery leading to an explosion that claimed the lives of 7 on Sunday.
MEND in a statement on Monday claimed, that the facility was breached by few members “of our fighters with the aid of our internal agents within the NNPC contrary to speculations that the sabotage was carried out by pipeline vandals and oil thieves, which is a very convenient phrase used in shielding the truth from the public”.
Spokesman of the IYC, Eric Omare said to journalists in Yenagoa on Wednesday that investigations had proven the explosion was caused by vandals and oil thieves.
“Contrary to MEND’S impression, the blast at the refinery jetty pipelines of the NNPC at Okrika, Rivers State, happened as a result of oil theft and pipeline vandalisation that is rampant in the Niger Delta”, he said.
He also poked holes in the claim by MEND that the amnesty programme was being mismanaged.
“We are comfortable with the way the amnesty programme is being managed. It is one of the best things that has happened to us. Only two days ago, about 160 Niger Deltans departed for South Africa for study”, he added.