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… Military Presence is to Safeguard Federal Assets ~ Maciver
By Amos Odhe, Yenagoa
A group, Bayelsans for Accountability and Good Governance (BAGG), have written to the Inspector General of Police, IGP Kayode Egbetokun, and other security agencies over the armed invasion of Igbomotoru community in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State by armed security personnel on the alleged order of Chief Timipre Sylva and Joshua MacIver.
The group also called for the immediate investigation and arrest of the former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and APC governorship candidate in the state, Chief Timipre Sylva and his deputy Joshua Machiver over alleged complicity.
According to the group, despite the protests and allegations against Joshua Machiver, for attempting to violently install a new paramount ruler in the community, “preliminary investigations showed that the use of military gun boats and security personnel attached to the pipeline surveillance firm, Tantita Security Services Limited implicated the duo of Sylva and Machiver.”
The BAGG, in a statement issued on Tuesday by its spokesman, Comrade Pere Solomon, also alleged that the invasion of igbomotoru “is related to armed action against those opposed to the failed governorship election of Chief Timipre Sylva in the state.”
Comrade Solomon said the BAGG is “solidly behind the position of the traditional ruler, elders, youth leadership and women of the Igbomotoru community, and across the state against the covert and armed attempt to subvert law and order in the community. We back the community in its claim that Joshua Maciver, is the alleged mastermind of the armed invasion to oppress them and to also install one Friday Jonathan, who had been rejected as paramount ruler of the community.”
The group also called on the state governor, Senator Douye Diri, the Comptroller-General of Prisons Service and the attorney-general of the federation “to review the controversy surrounding the Kaduna jail break of Joshua Machiver in 2006 and send him back to prison custody to serve out his 10 years prison time for alleged terrorism and sea piracy, because he has become a security threat to the people of Igbomotoru community, Bayelsa State, and the nation in general.
“This is among the reasons why the former President, Goodluck Jonathan said that he would have taken his mother out of Bayelsa State to Abuja if the PDP had lost the state during the November 11th 2023 Bayelsa State governorship election.
“We also confirmed that the community, which had been peaceful before and after the outcome of the election, is gradually being thrown into crisis which may result in bloodshed if those involved are not cautioned and arrested. We call on the federal and state governments to check the activities of Tantita Security, Chief Timipre Sylva and Joshua MacIver in order to promote dialogue and avoid bloodbath in the state, because neither Tantita Security personnel, Chief Timipre Sylva, and Joshua MacIver have a monopoly on violence and armed struggle.
“While we call on Governor Douye Diri not to allow Sylva and Machiver to replicate the bloodshed visited upon Nembe-Bassambiri people on Igbomotoru community, the Inspector-General of Police and the Chief of Defence Staff should check these rising security breaches, including the destruction of lives and property to quell rising tensions across the state.
“The top echelon of the security agencies should order for an investigation into the allegations that some staff of Tantita Security Services in September 2023, while patrolling the rivers in gunboats, invaded Okpotuwari, a community in the area, where it allegedly caused mayhem, fear, and destruction of lives and property.
“Elections have come and gone, and we have a mandate to protect lives and property in Southern Ijaw LGA, and as such politicians plotting political vendetta should be reminded that nobody, no matter how highly placed, will be allowed to toy with the peace existing in the LGA. We call once again for the security agencies to act swiftly and diligently to protect lives and properties in Southern Ijaw,” he said.
Reacting, the deputy governorship candidate of the APC and state coordinator, Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited (Bayelsa Operations), Great Joshua MacIver, in a statement denied the allegation, insisting that the presence of the military is to safeguard federal assets and by extension lives and properties in the area and not to intimidate anyone.
According to Joshua Maciver, the allegations levelled against him and Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited is misleading, “the recent publication from the caretaker chairman and the video making the rounds, of a supposed protest carried out by mischievous elements to bring the operations of Tantita Security Services to disrepute, what the organizers fail to acknowledge is that Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited, as a private security company, does not possess the authority to order federal forces but rather provide credible intelligence to guide federal forces in combating illegal bunkering activities,” he said.
On the issue of political intimidation, Great Joshua Maciver said that he has always displayed a peaceful disposition before, during and after the election and would not witch-hunt anyone for political reasons.
According to him, “The promoters of this campaign of calumny should also be aware that only those culpable of illegal crude oil mining activities are targeted for arrest and possible prosecution and no amount of blackmail or show of shame as is in this case will deter the robust collaboration between the surveillance company and the apparatus of state.”
