• Navy, Tantita bicker over oil theft in Niger Delta
From Ben Dunno, Warri
Prior to August 2022, the entire coastal area was under siege by criminals who were neck-deep in crude oil theft, pipeline vandalism and widespread ecological devastation. For decades, the region, especially in states like Rivers, Delta, Bayelsa, Cross River, Akwa Ibom and Edo, was a beehive of activities for illicit oil deals.
National and international cartel specialising in crude oil theft turned the affected states to a haven where their foreign and local agents successfully carried out nefarious activities unhindered.
It was indeed a period when revenue from crude oil production that was the mainstay of the economy dropped drastically on a yearly basis to the point that became not just a financial setback but also a national embarrassment, as it defied all legitimate means, including military action and other forms of community engagement, by various stakeholders to stop.
The President Muhammadu Buhari administration, in August 2022, was, therefore, forced into a private security initiative to counter the surge of illegal bunkering in the Niger Delta region. This led to the contract signed with Tantita Security Services, owned by Chief Government Ekpemupolo, aka Tompolo, later that year.
The one-year contract due for renewal has been generating a lot of controversies lately. Some forces, especially within the military and other stakeholders, have opposed the renewal of the contract.
However, their moves are being resisted by prominent individuals within government circles and the general public, as well as groups and stakeholders.
Tompolo has a strong ally in the National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu. He visited Koko, Delta State, and other locations in the region recently to reaffirm government’s commitment towards consolidating Tantita’s achievements in protecting the nation’s critical assets by injecting additional measures to ensure pipeline security in the region.
He said: “We have done very well to get to where we are today and we’ll not rest on our oars. We are certainly going to take more measures. So far, things are beginning to change. Give us little time and you will see things change for the better in the oil and gas sector of the economy.”
On the same trip was Minister of State for Petroleum (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, who said: “We’re here because of the problem of pipeline vandalism and illegal bunkering that is going on in the Niger Delta. I believe that it has become an existential problem and we need to fight them. We need to fight these criminals to submission.
“What is happening here is so bad that we cannot even know the implications unless maybe when people start dying in their numbers. That is when people will know that a few persons who were profiting from this crime are here to wipe all of them out.
“As a government, we have decided that we are going to put a stop to it. We are going to work with stakeholders to ensure that we stop this nonsense in our society. We are not going to allow them.
“I also want to seize this opportunity to express our gratitude to Tantita that has been commissioned by the NNPCL to be able to do some work but we are going to do a lot more.”
The South South Professionals and Transparency Initiative (SSPTI) condemned the role of the military, especially the Navy. Its chairman, Dr. Ugochukwu Alozie, wondered “why the Navy is taking the issue of Tantita so personally, if indeed they are both working towards the common goal of protecting the nation’s assets.”
He said in Warri, last week: “Military presence in Niger Delta is as old as the region itself. Yet the issue of illegal bunkering activities has continued unabated to the extent that it got worsened. Government had to resort to other means to tackle the menace, since it appeared the military no longer have solutions to curbing it.
“We have had a series of military operations in the Niger Delta in the last 25 years. For the Army we have Operation Restore Hope and later Pullo Shield and then Operation Delta Safe (OPDS). All under Sector 1 of the 4 Brigade, Benin, Edo State, which metamorphosed to 63 Brigade now in Asaba.
“In between all these, we have special operations such as Operation Crocodile Smile for South-South and that of ‘Egwu-Eke’ (Python Dance) in South East. Yet the level of illegal bunkering activities was on the increase.
“The Navy as well was not left out. We have seen the deployment of fleets of gun boats and warships in waterways across the region. We have seen house boats at every strategic location on the waterways. We have seen the establishment of so many Forward Operating Bases (FOBs) in the region, to the creation of the Central Naval Command in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State. Yet the illegal bunkering activities were even more consolidated. So, where were the soldiers when these criminals had been on rampage at the known locations in these states?
“Let me make this appeal to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to ignore the ongoing cheap blackmail the Navy has resorted to against Tantita. The old order cannot continue. The security outfit was beginning to pose a major treat. They must do everything to get rid of them at all cost.
“I, therefore, wish to make it abundantly clear to Mr. President that only Tantita Security Outfit has all it takes both in terms of capacity, manpower, technical know-how and spread to protect the oil installations across the region.”
Background
The Nigerian Navy ahad last week accused four Tantita operatives of an alleged involvement in crude oil theft.
Parading the suspects on Wednesday, September 30, 2023, the Commander of NNS Beecroft, Commodore Kolawole Oguntuga, said they were arrested while they were attacking a local from whom they tried stealing a boat engine.
Oguntuga said: “In a swift response to a distress call, the Nigerian Navy stationed at FOB Lekki foiled an attempted oil theft operation on the waterways near Itolu community, Lekki, in Lagos State.”
The claim was, however, debunked by the Tantita operatives who described the allegation as false and calculated attempts by the Navy to discredit the security outfit in a desperate effort to stop the renewal of its contract.
