By Dapo Akinrefon

THE governorship candidate of Alliance for Democracy, AD, in 2019, Chief Owolabi Salis, on Sunday, urged President Bola Tinubu, to go after the major oil barons, who are luring innocent people into bunkering in Nigeria, instead of the decision to start bombing and killing the poor who were carrying out the exercise.

In a chat with newsmen, Salis, lamented that the poor people are being used for oil thefts adding that it is not their fault because the government has failed them.

He said: “Mr. President, if you can bomb one traditional ruler, high government official or top military brass, diplomat, involved in bunkering, the game will stop immediately. Singapore did it against corruption and no one wants to be involved in corruption in Singapore.

“We should ask ourselves, has the government done this? The answer is no. This primary objective is carried out in comparative societies. The past governments in Nigeria have failed in this primary objective. You can not bomb them. Arrest them and let them fish out the real barons and bomb the real barons if you can, and the oil bunkering will stop immediately. You only need to bomb one baron. That’s it.”

Recall that the Federal Government recently said it would start air raids and bombing of criminals who engaged in bunkering and vandalisation of petroleum pipelines across the country.

Reacting to the decision, Salis said: “To Mr. President, the government must realise that some oil barons in the country lured the poor people into these criminal acts, taking advantage of the abject poverty in the country so killing by the bombing of the people vandalising and scooping the fuel will not stop or reduce the menace as long as the oil barons are secure because they never come to the scene of the crime.”

According to him, “These ignorant poor people are forced into the business as they are incapacitated. These are people who can not afford to feed, accommodate or care for themselves and their families. The real bunkers are in government, military, traditional rulers, and others. They used the poor. President Tinubu’s government must identify the real barons, bring them to trial, and mete out whatever punishment stipulated for such crimes to them. This will end the oil thief business in Nigeria.”

While urging President Tinubu to rescind the idea of bombing the poor people in the field of crime, he said the new approach to stop bunkering is unfair to the poor.

Salis said: “If Nigeria’s economy is good, no poor person would be involved in bunkering.

“My strong advice to Nigerians is to stay clear of bunkering. Otherwise, the government “will bomb you without any consequences because nobody will open any criminal file for you.

 “People doing the job are the poor. The real barons never come to the field. These poor people are forced into the business due to poverty. These are the people who can not afford to pay their bills.

 “Leave bunkering or risk being bombed.”