Arewa Group Distances Self from Attack on Diri over Nembe Oil Spill

John Shiklam in Kaduna

The Arewa Consultative Youth Movement (ACYM) has distanced itself from recent statements on the ‘politicisation’ of oil spill in Nembe, Bayelsa State.

At a news conference yesterday in Kaduna, the group dissociated itself from a statement issued on December 4, 2021, purportedly by its President, Mallam Kabiru Yusuf, condemning the position of the Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Duoye Diri, on the Nembe oil spill.

However, the ACYM president and his spokesman, Sani Ali, maintained during the press conference that at no time did the group contemplate challenging or

condemning the position of the governor or any other person on the unfortunate incident in Nembe community.

According to the group, “The attention of our group has been drawn to a widely circulated publication purportedly emanating from our organisation and signed by our President, Mallam Kabir Yusuf, which cast aspersions on the person and statement of the Governor of Bayelsa State, Diri, on the Nembe oil spill occasioned by the blowout of Santa Barbara Well 1, OML 29 operated by Aiteo Exploration and Production Company Limited in Opu Nembe.

“We wish to categorically dissociate ourselves from the said statement, as it did not emanate from our organisation ACYM.”

The group said ACYM is a responsible movement led by mature young Nigerians of northern extraction, who believe in one Nigeria and the concept of “an injury to one is an injury to all.”

“Therefore, what affects the people of Nembe affects us too.

“We cannot be hasty and irresponsible in disparaging the statement of a governor on an issue we know nothing about.

“How could we have commented against the Chief Security Officer of a state on a hazardous matter of this nature, when we have not visited the site of the disaster to see things for ourselves?” the group asked.

The ACYM, therefore, called on the governor “the people of Nembe community, Bayelsans and the public to disregard and discountenance the story in its entirety.”