By Kolawole Ojebisi
Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri, on Tuesday said oil “bunkerers” have changed tack in their schemes to evade arrest and attack by security agents.
The governor said oil thieves now use children and women as human shields at illegal refining camps.
Diri expressed concern over this new trend stressing that something urgent must be done to put an end to it.
The governor said this during a meeting with first-class traditional rulers in the state and local government chairmen at the Government House, Yenagoa.
He noted that the ugly situation was discovered by security operatives on reconnaissance operations.
He called on traditional rulers to educate their subjects on the dangers of the illegal business to human health and the environment.
He said: “The report I received recently is that at illegal bunkering sites, they now have children and women, which is a dimension I have never heard before.
“Sometimes, when the military are authorised to destroy those camps and they get there on reconnaissance, they discover that children and women are used to shield those places. So, we all have to work together in our domains to educate our people.
“There was a situation where the military moved in and discovered that children and women were there and had to withdraw.”
Diri urged the monarchs and council chairmen to take steps to curb the menace which he said occurred in Southern Ijaw, Ekeremor, Brass and Nembe council areas, respectively.
He also charged the monarchs to report to him activities of oil bunkering or illegal sites in their domains, stressing that the ugly trend could be addressed through collaborative efforts.
