The Oil and Solid Minerals Producing Areas Landlords’ Association of Nigeria (OMPALAN) has called on the people of Izombe in Ohaji/Egbema and Oguta in Imo State and the military to exercise restraint aimed at dousing tension in the areas.
OMPALAN in a statement by its president Bishop Udo Azogu called on the government and the military authorities to conduct a full scale investigation to unravel the remote and immediate causes of the bloody clashes that occurred on Friday, October 8, 2021 in the Izombe community between the youths and the army leading to collateral damage.
The statement reads in part: “I call on oil producing communities in Imo State especially in Ohaji/Egbema and Oguta local government areas to mobilize their citizens and stop the indiscriminate use of their communities as transit routes for oil bunkering on a scale never seen before. The environmental impacts of crude oil leakages on our communities are enormous. Our precious farmlands and marine life that sustain us across ages are irremediably destroyed. The crude oil leakages permeate and pollute our underground water systems that feed thousands of bore holes – making them toxic for human consumption. Illegal oil bunkering breeds corruption in all strata of the society and weakens our resilience to security threats. The national wealth is depleted while the crescendo of crimes and criminality among the youths continue to rise to peak levels exacerbated by the recent jailbreak of Federal Correctional Center, Owerri”.
The body urged the communities to resist the temptation of attacking security personnel under any urge, adding that there are always channels to express grievances and seek redress. OMPALAN said it is pained at the avoidable loss of precious lives and property and extended it condolences to the bereaved families and people of Izombe community, Oguta LGA and the military command.
