MKPOIKANA UDOMA 10 September 2014, Sweetcrude, Port Hrcourt – Total E & P Nigeria Limited, operator of the NNPC/TEPNG Joint Venture, Total Upstream Nigeria Limited and Total E & P Deepwater subsidiary companies, says the business activities of its Port Harcourt office base was disrupted on Monday by a group of people claiming to be members of the Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, on a demonstration in support of one Mr. Steve Aralu, a former staff of Maple Leaf Ventures.
A statement made available to newsmen by the Media Officer, Govt. Relations & District Communication of Total E&P Nigeria Ltd, Mrs. Francisca Makolo, said Maple Leaf Ventures is a contractor to Total E&P Nigeria Ltd.
According to the statement, “The matter between Mr. Steve Aralu and Total E&P Nigeria Ltd is pending in a court of law and is therefore sub-judiced. For the record, since several years, TEPNG had tried to resolve the matter amicably and parties have been engaged in discussions at the direction of the court”.
The statement further noted that Total E&P Nigeria Limited is not in dispute with either the National or Zonal Branch of the IYC, which is a notable youth organization in Nigeria, and has reported the blockade to relevant authorities.
Meanwhile, the authorities of the Ijaw Youth Council, IYC worldwide have disowned the purported IYC group who picketed the gates of the Port Harcourt district office of Total E&P Nigeria Limited.
The spokesperson and lawyer to the IYC, Comrade Eric Omare speaking to SweetCrudeReports in a telephone interview, said the IYC did not authorize the protest and has called on Security Agencies to deal with the perpetrators.
According to him, “IYC did not authorize that protest in Port Harcourt yesterday, those people are not members of the IYC, they are people who are using the name of IYC as a cover to carry out their selfish and criminal activities, that is the reason we are calling on Security Agencies to bring them to justice, they are just trying to tarnish the image of the organization”.
“We don’t know those people; as a matter of fact we got to know about them when we received a letter from Total notifying us that IYC members went to protest in its Port Harcourt district office in regards to an issue concerning a private individual”.
“The position of the Council is that the issue involved is of no concerned to the IYC, our zonal leaders have even gone on-air in various Radio Stations in Port Harcourt to disown those people, which is why we have called on the security agencies to bring them to justice for trying to tarnish the image of the IYC” he said.
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