The Joint Task Force, JTF, Operation Pulo Shield, Calabar Zone, on Monday in Calabar, Cross River State, continued its onslaught against illegal merchants of petroleum products as it destroyed over 294 drums of diesel it impounded last week in the state capital.
The task force, made up of soldiers from the 13 Brigade, Calabar also destroyed one truck load of diesel, six generating sets, one J-5 bus and several hoses seized alongside the diesel from oil bunkerers.
Speaking during the destruction exercise at the JTF dump site in Odukpani, near Calabar, the General Officer Commanding, GOC, 82 Division, Nigerian Army, Enugu, Major-General Olaniyi Adebayo, described bunkering as economic sabotage.
Olaniyi said the Chief of Army Staff was committed to fighting oil bunkering, adding that the command was doing everything within its powers to wipe out the menace.
According to him, the Federal Government has made eradication of oil bunkering one of its transformation agenda, adding that the army was ready to help government achieve zerobunkering level in order to boost the country’s economy.
“Mr. President is fully in support of the eradication of oil bunkering in Nigeria as part of the realisation of his transformation agenda. “All we need from you is to help us with intelligence information and I assure you that we will bring this economic sabotage to an end.
“It is a collective responsibility of every individual to ensure the eradication of this economic sabotage in our country, ‘’ he said.
He further directed that the burnt truck should be completely destroyed to ensure that the owner did not come back to claim it and make use of it again. “We are going to cut the truck into pieces to ensure that the owners cannot regain them,” he said.
Commander of 13 Brigade Nigeria Army, Calabar, Brig.-General Okwudili Azinta, said the consignment was impounded by men of the JTF following an intelligence report. He said the suspects on sighting the JTF operatives, jumped inside their boat and zoomed off.
Azinta, who is also the sector commander of Operation Pulo Shield, Calabar zone said that the onslaught against oil bunkerers was a continuous one.
