The Amalgamated Arewa Youth Groups (AAYG), a leading Igbo sociocultural group, has come under fire from Ohanaeze Ndigbo for its resistance to the awarding of contracts to Mr. Government Ekpemupolo, also known as Tompolo.
According to DAILY POST, the Federal Government gave Tomoplo a contract to monitor oil pipelines, which sparked outrage from young people in the North.
The group even demanded that Mr. Adokiye Tombomelye, Group Executive Director, Upstream of the NNPC LTD, and Timipre Sylva, Minister of State for Petroleum, be fired because of the multi-billion Naira deal.
However, in response, Ohanaeze argued that the Northern youth group’s protest was pointless.
The Igbo group warned the AAYG to avoid making offensive remarks through Mazi Okwu Nnabuike, National President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide.
“It was astonishing to see some people line up with signs in protest of the pipeline surveillance contract handed to Tompolo,” he said.
“It is unacceptable that young people claiming to be Nigerians are protesting a contract awarded to another Nigerian to guard the nation’s oil installations. Were they anticipating that foreign nationals would receive the contract? Or that it ought to be distributed to them? We consider their demonstration to be aggressive and wholly unnecessary.
“Nigeria has been unable to fill its quota on the oil market for a number of months, and this is partly because of insecurity and sabotage in the oil-rich region. Why should any well-meaning Nigerian reject the government’s choice now that it has made the proper move to restore the nation’s manufacturing capacity? Therefore, in light of the environmental damage that the oil producing States are experiencing, we advise the AAYG to ponder deeply and refrain from making any additional aggressive statements.
In the meantime, Okwu has requested that Tompolo take into account the youths of the three South-East oil-producing States of Imo, Abia, and Anambra in the sub-contracts.
He said, “An all-encompassing strategy is perfectly appropriate to secure the complete restoration of peace and security in the entire oil region.
