A group under the aegis of Arewa Progressives Assembly (APA) has called on the Inspector-General of Police to arrest of a Gombe state lawyer, Barrister AbdulGaniy Muhammad Bello for writing an “inciting letter to the Minister of State for Petroleum, on the recent discovery of oil in the Kolmani River by the NNPC.
In a letter sighted Blueprint written by Barrister Bello and titled: “Complaints on the activities of oil drilling operations at Kolmani communities of Tai and Kanltanga District Akko LGA in Gombe state, ” he alleged that community land was forcefully taken by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
A statement signed by National Coordinator of the group, Bashir Mohammed raised the alarm on Saturday, urging all security agents to “go after his sponsors and all traditional rulers whose names appeared in the seditious letter to be placed under surveillance”.
Barrister Bello’s letter, which was circulated on whatsApp chat groups, according to Bashir, “was an indication that some agents working against the economic revitalization of Northern Nigeria were behind this latest attempt to create bad blood between Gombe people and their Bauchi neighbours, after more than a century of peaceful coexistence”.
The group noted that the author of the letter “is therefore acting the script of oil thieves who are eager to create violent agitations in the Kolamani area, in order to replicate their activities in states like Zamfara and Katsina when gold was discovered”.
Bashir also urged “Nigerian intelligence community to pay good attention to the activities of the Gombe lawyer, who is apparently working on the script of agents of destabilization.
“We believe Barrister AbdulGaniy’s seditious letter was part of a grand plot to create agitations by sponsored violent groups in order to pave way for armed insurrection that could rob the entire Kolmani and neighbouring communities of peace, just because oil was discovered and the future has begun to look promising”, the group argued.
The group warned “all saboteurs of economically-stable Northern Nigeria to steer clear of the beautiful Kolmani River Oil discovery, because we will not fold our arms and watch unpatriotic persons bringing the North to its knees. We know the game-plan and we are fully prepared to use all legal and constitutional means to preserve and protect the Kolamani legacy”.
The group said Barrister AbdulGaniy “should not be the one leading threatening the peaceful coexistence enjoy by Gombe and Bauchi states.”
The group stated that: “Why is it that anytime wealth is coming to the North there would be few people eager to destroy it? Does this lawyer know how much time; energy and national resources were committed by the NNPC to achieve this great dream of economic revitalization “.
