Police arrest pipeline fire suspects

Police in Abia State in southeastern Nigeria have arrested dozens of suspects in connection with a pipeline fire that killed at least 50 people on Wednesday, news organisations reported.

Some 45 people are accused of vandalising the pipeline which caught fire as thieves tried to siphon petrol for illegal sale. Charred bodies of the victims, including women and children, burnt clothing, jerry cans, bicycles and motorbikes, were found at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) pipelines at Nnejiji and Umugbede in Isioma Ngwa local council area, ‘The Guardian’ reported.

The state police commisioner said that a number of items were recovered from the suspects, including three oil tanker vehicles, five minibuses, three cars, pumping machines, and jerry cans filled with fuel. He blamed the intermittent fuel shortages in the southeastern states on the “persistent vandalisation of NNPC oil piplines in the zone”, the daily reported.

This is not an isolated incident. In 1998, a pipeline fire killed some 1,000 people in Jesse, Delta State. After this tragedy, which was also blamed on sabotage, prominent Nigerians called on the federal government to act to avoid similar events. However, in late 1999 another pipeline burst in Ughelli South, Delta State, leaving a dozen people dead. The owners of the pipeline, the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), said that it, too, had been vandalised.

According to ‘The Guardian’, the local communities, represented by the Urhobo National Assembly, have called for 100 billion naira (US $980.39 million) compensation “for the destruction of the the entire ecosystem and destruction of vital natural resources handed down from many generations”.