Human rights activist and president of One Love Foundation, Chief Dr Patrick Eholor has said that the Chief of Army Staff, General Lucky Irabor must resign from office for authorizing the destruction of a vessel intercepted by authorities for carrying stolen crude.
Eholor said the act could only mean that Irabor was covering up his cronies who were probably behind the crime, and also has ended up polluting the Niger Delta, and destroying the fuel that could have been sold by the Federal Government, its rightful owners.
Eholor therefore called on all Nigerians to join the clarion call for Irabor’s resignation, and the probe of security officers who were supposed to be protecting the crude in the Niger Delta.
“If they were really doing their jobs, their won’t be oil theft”, he argued.
His words “First of all, I want to commend Tompolo and his security outfit, Tantita Security Services for doing a great job in such a short time. The army Generals are culpable to oil theft. When President Muhammadu Buhari was giving awards to Nigerians, I said that one has to merit it in order to be conferred.
“The President gave General Irabor, my brother from the Niger Delta a national award, but he wasn’t qualified for it. You have a vessel which was captured with barges of stolen crude oil. Why would a general not talk about forensic? Why should a general not hand over the case to the police or the DSS?
“Why should a general not talk about the owners of the vessel, who rented it? Why it was rented, and what it was caught doing?
“I think General Irabor destroying that vessel is sabotage.
“Niger Delta is already polluted. The environmentalists have told us that the pollution is bringing disaster, so destroying that vessel is bringing pollution.
“Blowing the vessel is also to cover up for your cronies that are stealing our oil. You know them. Lastly, if they were convicted, that oil would have been sold and its proceeds used for the cleaning of the polluted environment.
“I am asking Nigerians to support the clarion call for General Irabor to resign and apologize to Nigerians. It’s a very important call, if we hope to redeem this country that is tainted with crimes, corruption and all kinds of evils inimical to our growth as a people”.
“Our army Generals have become merchants of misery, and are not helping to solve the problems they are hired to solve”.