By Bayo Davids<\/p>\n
There seems to be no end in sight on the controversy over the renewal of the $1.3bn surveillance contract awarded to Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited, a company owned by former militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo also known as Tompolo.<\/p>\n
This is just as some former militant leaders across the oil-rich Niger Delta region accused Tompolo as a major player in the crude oil theft and oil bunkering in the region.<\/p>\n
They also insisted that despite the attempt to label other militant leaders as “illegal bunkers”, the Oporoza in Gbaramatu Kingdom in Delta state serve as the headquarters of Crude oil theft and illegal bunkering.<\/p>\n
The former militant leaders, in an open letter to President Bola Tinubu and signed by Former Commander Moses Ebipador, threatened to speak up if Tompolo fails to stop maligning them in his bid to convince the President into renewing his “unsuccessful multi-million dollar pipeline surveillance contract which saw the nation’s crude oil production and export during the one year period of his contract decrease rather than increase.”<\/p>\n
In the letter, they informed the President that \u201cTompolo\u2019s Camp 5 in Oporoza, Gbaramatu Kingdom was raided by personnels from the Nigeria Army following the killing of a Nigerian soldier in ‘Iroko’ who caught them in the act of crude oil theft with a vessel\/barge full of illegal crude oil.”<\/p>\n
They also noted that “Prior to the proclamation of Presidential Amnesty in 2009 by Late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, Oporoza was known as the ‘Anchorage,’ the centre of crude oil theft with vessels and barges loading in and out.”<\/p>\n
They also claimed that Oporoza had an alleged \u201cBunkering Union\u201d with Tompolo\u2019s late father (Thomas Osen Ekpemupolo) among the pioneer chairmen of the bunkering union, and other past Chairmen include Mr. Matthew Tonlagha, Michael Johnny, etc.<\/p>\n
Ebipador insisted that \u201cthe President should rotate the Delta state slot to include those who have shown capacity among the Itsekiri ethnic nationality where Escravos Gas-to-Liquids Plants is located, since Tompolo has already completed his unsuccessful one-year contract obligation of about $50million per month which saw crude oil production and export decrease rather than increase, it\u2019s been a colossal failure and disaster.\u201d<\/p>\n
Commander Ebipador further noted that, \u201cIt is widely known across the region that Tompolo never supported the now President Bola Ahmed Tinubu during the 2023 Presidential poll, despite the fact that the President went to Oporoza with resources to seek his support, instead, Tompolo miscalculated and used both his resources and that of the now President to work and fund the opposition. What an insult?\u201d<\/p>\n
The ex-militant leaders unanimously called on the President to ignore desperate attempts, lies and fabrications emanating from Tantita Security Services Limited media propaganda against the great and capable people of Ondo state and other leaders in the region who have displayed nothing short of pure-professionalism and has only called for equity and fairness in the decentralization of the multimillion-dollar pipeline surveillance contract.<\/p>\n
The President should conduct a proper review of the $1.3 bn Crude Oil Pipeline Surveillance contract awarded to three individuals all from Delta State in accordance with the national and economic security interest of the country and decentralize the contract to include other ex-militant leaders from the different states in the region in order to effectively reduce the menace of crude oil theft and boost oil production.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Bayo Davids There seems to be no end in sight on the controversy over the renewal of the $1.3bn surveillance contract awarded to Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited, a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":107828,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n