Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State has urged the federal government to identify the brains behind crude oil theft in the country and bring them to justice.
Speaking with newsmen Friday after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House, Abuja, Uzodinma said crude oil theft is a cancer which must be dealt with to steady the economy.
He warned against treating perpetrators as sacred cows, saying anyone involved in the practice must be brought to book irrespective of the status in the society.
“Suddenly, because of the activities of those who are our anti-national interest we’ve lost over a million barrels and barely managing to produce one million.
“I think we should arise in unison to condemn the activities of crude oil theft by anti-Nigerian interest groups and bring back the economy of the country. Because you have to have a country first before you have a president”
The governor who sought to deflect questions from the controversy surrounding the All Progressives Congress (APC) single-faith presidential ticket, noted that the country is actually faced with more threat from its inability to produce enough crude having seen capacity plummet in the last few years as a result of theft causing stress to the economy.
According to him, it was high time to put an end to the All Muslim presidential candidate debate and leave the decision on who is elected to the electorate.
His words: “The mood of the country today is not about who the candidates are. The mood of the country is that two years ago or three years ago, we were producing 2.1 million barrels of crude oil every day, for over 12 years that has been our main source of foreign exchange.
“We should make emphasis on things that will unite the country. And please do by the grace of God abandon those things that are capable of dismembering the country. Our national interest is important. Our national unity is important”.
