http://gulftoday.ae/portal/a9c24737-642d-412e-99e3-a3aedc2aeb7f.aspx

LAGOS: Politicians and military leaders — not militants — are responsible for the majority of oil thefts in Nigeria’s crude-rich southern delta, according to a US diplomatic cable quoting a Nigerian official and released by WikiLeaks.

A member of a government panel on troubles in nation’s Niger Delta implicated Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, a general whose brother became president, and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as being the biggest forces behind the thefts, the cable claims.

Those thefts also fuel arms sales to the restive region while causing environmental damage and cutting production in a nation crucial to US oil supplies.

“It is in the interests of these people to make it appear that the Niger Delta problem is intractable,” the January 2009 cable quotes panel member Tony Uranta as saying.

“As a result, they prop up the militants, including some who have an ideological basis for their actions.” Abubakar, who ran unsuccessfully this year as a presidential candidate in a ruling-party primary, denied the allegations on Monday.

“Atiku said this is a recycled old tale told again and again by business rivals unable to match the business success,” a statement issued read.

“Atiku is unaware of any links that the late Yar’Adua had with bunkering and he believed absolutely that this is false accusation.” Yar’Adua, who served as second-in-command of the country’s military government in the late 1970s, died in prison in 1997 after being arrested for criticising military dictator Sani Abacha.

His brother, the President Umaru Yar’Adua, died in May 2010.

The diplomatic cable quotes Uranta as blaming “no more than 15 per cent” of oil thefts on militants operating in the delta, a tropical maze of creeks and waterways about the size of South Carolina.

Instead, politicians, retired admirals and generals and others in the country’s elite profit from the thefts.
Typically, thieves solder or cut into oil pipelines running through the mangrove swamps of the delta.
Some refine the crude into kerosene or diesel in crude refineries, while other oil sails out to foreign ports for sale.

“Uranta claimed that the late Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, the president’s brother, had been the ‘biggest’ bunkerer,” the cable reads, using the local term for oil thieves.

This is an open secret to all Niger deltans and we kept screaming it during the crisis period, but other Nigerians hardly believed it.
The true bunkerers are ex-generals and "businessmen" from the core-North. It is well known that the militants killed an ex-presidents son in the creeks.

The by force Northern consensus candidate stuff is all about access to oil theft.
They know and the ND knows it. Northern consensus candidate = WAR.

Atiku's name has always been mentioned with bunkering and strange "militants," call it aboki MEND. But he isn't the only one.

Beaf:

This is an open secret to all Niger deltans and we kept screaming it during the crisis period, but other Nigerians hardly believed it.
The true bunkerers are ex-generals and "businessmen" from the core-North. It is well known that the militants killed an ex-presidents son in the creeks.

The by force Northern consensus candidate stuff is all about access to oil theft.
They know and the ND knows it. Northern consensus candidate = WAR.

A parasite that also eats itself?

Gadd dam it,

I've heard it all.

^^^^^^


Can two blind men lead each other right?

This is no news. Niger Deltan oil was the pacification pill that allowed the military to stay out of politics and still reap profits.

IBB, Danjuma et al are also involved.

As true as this might be, i don't see how it helps the GEJ campaign at these last hours of the race. If Buhari had been mentioned, I would have said "maybe" On the contrary, the post runs the risk of the GEJ team sending out garbbled message.

This is no longer news na . . E don tay . . where men sabi all these things

naijaking1:

As true as this might be, i don't see how it helps the GEJ campaign at these last hours of the race. If Buhari had been mentioned, I would have said "maybe" On the contrary, the post runs the risk of the GEJ team sending out garbbled message.

Nah, its just an ordinary thread. Nothing to do with campaigns IMHO.