By  EGUFE  YAFUGBORHI

PORT HARCOURT – Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, joined by a throng of Niger Delta ex-militants, have picketed the Rumuokurushi operational base of Trans-Ocean Company in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State, over alleged unfair sack of Niger Delta staff of the oil company.

The angry youths disrupted the company’s operation for the day as wokers, who had arrived before the protest scampered through the company’s rear gate for fear of assault by the rampaging youths.

Expressing their anger, Mr. Bristol-Alagbariya Emmanuel, National Director of Mobilization, Strategy and Planning, IYC, who led the protest, said they would not vacate the company’s premises untill the sacked workers were recalled.

He said: “Trans-Ocean Company has chosen violence rather than dialogue after ordering our youths to leave the company without telling them their sins. When the report came to us, we invited them but they refused to honour our invitation.”

He added that both parties had been summoned by the Minister of Labour and Productivity to address the issue to no avail, accusing the company of failing to honour the minister’s advice to make peace with the aggrieved youths.

When contacted, Public Relations Officer of the company, Mr. Hyacinth Aloko, said “Sorry, I will not react to the issue for now.”