Tension in Rivers as Gov Wike arrests 22 Exxon Mobil offshore staff
…..PENGASSAN says Wike turning Covid-19 war to muscle-flexing demands release of its members
Another tension is brewing in Rivers State as Governor Nyensom Wike on Thursday night ordered arrest of 22 offshore staff of Exxon Mobil.
21 of the workers are members of the Petroleum & Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN, while the remaining staff is the company’s Chief Security Officer, CSO
Confirming the arrest while speaking on a cable TV on Friday, Wike lamented that people selling Akara, groundnuts as their daily means of living are being charged to court in Lagos everyday, while stressing that big companies are the ones flouting the lockdown order the most.
“People selling Akara, groundnuts are being charged to court daily in Lagos for disobeying lockdown orders but when we arrest able bodies companies, they say we should leave them…”No body can use Rivers State as a toy, I will use this ExxonMobil matter to expose lots of people in Abuja.” Wike said.
According to a statement issued PENGASSAN Exxon Mobile Branch Secretary, Kingsley Udoidua, exclusively obtained by Reporters , the workers are as at the time this report was filed (Friday, April 17, ) still at Elekaya Stadium, Port Harcourt, where they have reportedly assaulted and security operatives.
The statement partly reads “At about 3:30pm on Thursday April 16, 2020, Rivers State commissioner of police with his team and a top Army commander intercepted the convoy (protected by the police) conveying 21 ExxonMobil personnel who are PENGASSAN members on their way to Intels, Port Harcourt, at Bori (Akwa Ibom/Rivers boundary).
“The commissioner rebuffed all explanations and forced them to move to Elekaya Stadium, Port Harcourt, where they have been detained, verbally assaulted and starved”
“It is appalling that Rivers State has turned the global efforts in combating Covid-19 to a tool of muscle-flexing and petty opression of oilfield workers