A group under the aegis of Arewa Progressives Assembly (APA) has called on the Inspector-General of Police to “ensure the immediate arrest” of Barrister AbdulGaniy Muhammad Bello, a Gombe State Lawyer 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, which President Muhammadu Buhari recently commissioned.
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 for all traditional rulers whose names appeared in the seditious letter to be placed under surveillance”.
Barrister Bello’s letter, which was being circulated on whatsApp chat groups, according to Bashir, “was an indication” that “some agents working against the economic revitalisation of Northern Nigeria were behind this latest attempt to create bad blood between Gombe people and their Bauchi neighbours, in such a way that it will lead to unprovoked use of arms by brothers against each other, 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, in the statement, 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 Statement 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 wondered why Barrister AbdulGaniy could not write any letter to the Gombe State Governor, Alh. Inuwa Yahaya when schools and hospitals were becoming dilapidated?
They also questioned why Barrister AbdulGaniy “should be the one leading a move that is so threatening to the security Gombe and Bauchi have been enjoying, like banditry is threatening parts of the Northeast and Northwest currently?”
The Group said it has reason to believe the lawyer was being used to forment trouble, “otherwise, why should an individual decide where the Federal Government should use as its base for Oil Wells? Or who does he think own the Oil Wells, apart from the Federal Government?”
They went on to ask whether the lawyer knows DPR is not existing or that the NNPC is now a company with GCEO at the top not GMD.
“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? Is he ignorant of the Petroleum Industry Act, and he calls himself a lawyer?”.
Stressing that the lawyer’s action was unacceptable, the group reiterated its call on the Office of the National Security Adviser to “act immediately by prevailing on the Nigeria Police to get the man arrested and charged to court, before he becomes the trigger of bloodletting in the Northeast over the Kolmani oil Wells” .
