Secret Reporters No place to hide
Nigeria’s minister of state for petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu has allegedly bribed members of the Niger Delta Avengers with a whooping sum of $10 million to convince the militant group to stop its Operation Red Economy campaign against oil production in the country.
The allegation against the minister was made on Wednesday, May 25, 2016 by Nigeria’s main opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
The PDP took to micro-blogging website, Twitter to expose the alleged deal which was concluded in Transcorp Hilton hotel in Abuja on Wednesday.
“The $10m bribe was given to representatives of Niger Delta Avengers after a meeting with @IbeKachikwu at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja
“Mr. @IbeKachikwu appealed to the representatives of Niger Delta Avengers to plead to the militants to stop vandalization of pipelines”, the PDP said.
The minister of state for petroleum last week declared that the renewed restiveness in the oil-rich region of the Niger Delta has cut production by 800,000 barrels per day. Kachikwu has also said that a military solution will not solve the problem of militancy in the Niger Delta.
His remarks came as the army chief, Lt. General Tukur Buratai has sworn to deal with the militants. “The Niger Delta Avengers are not avenging anything,” the army general retorted. “They are just criminals. We will fish them out.”
Despite the alleged millions given to the group, they went ahead on Wednesday to bomb Chevron’s escravos tank in Delta State.
Messages sent to Kachikwu’s office for comment were not replied at the time of filing this report.
