SAN FRANCISCO, November 03, (THEWILL) – There was tension at the headquarters of the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC) Monday as a group of youths allegedly sponsored by embattled former Chief Security Officer of the oil commission, Comrade Tsewo Edema, went berserk at the commission’s Warri office.
The angry youths were alleged to have been hired to cause commotion at the commission’s office following the running battle between the ousted CSO of the commission and newly-appointed Managing Director, Mr. Williams Makinde, who recently redeployed the latter.
The youths numbering over a hundred were said to have thrown caution to the winds as they barricaded the main entrance to the commission’s office with a mock coffin in a bid to force the management into doing their bidding.
Several staff of the commission were reportedly held hostage for hours at the premises as the youths mainly of Itsekiri extraction disallowed people from coming out or going in for the period the protest lasted.
The youths who were said to have defied the presence of security personnel at the commission’s headquarters seized the gate in the wee hours of day, drumming and singing war songs as they put up bonfire and place a huge mock coffin at the entrance.
Reliable sources at the commission said what is happening at the commission is the handiwork of the embattled CSO alleging that since he was redeployed, he had made the entire establishment ungovernable and uncomfortable for workers.
Sources said a section of Itsekiri youths had earlier given DESOPADEC management ultimatum over alleged marginalisation, threatening to shut down the commission’s head office over the vexed issues.
But a group of youths drawn from Urhobo and Ijaw ethnic groups had a few weeks ago dismissed the threat, pointing accusing fingers at the embattled CSO of the commission as mastermind of the crisis rocking the agency.
THEWILL recalls that Governor Ifeanyi Okowa recently amended the DESOPADEC laws with laid down procedure for the sharing of the derivation funds accruable to the commission but it was not immediately clear if the management was acting in variance to the new law (as amended).
Meanwhile, DESOPADEC MD, Makinde, through his Special Assistant on media and publicity, Mr. Prince Orhomonokpaye, has appealed to Itsekiri leaders to prevail on youths of the ethnic nationality to sheath their swords in the interest of peace and oneness.
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