The Federal Government has been supported by the Ijaw Patriotic League in defying requests to terminate the contract for oil pipeline protection given to a company in which High Chief Ekpemupolo Tompolo has a stake.
The Federal Government’s choice to work with a former leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta to help secure the country’s egregiously violated pipelines was well-considered and in the interests of the general public, according to the National Coordinator of the IPL, Jasper Eritei.
In a statement on Friday, the National Coordinator said that the criticism and demonstrations that followed the contract being given to the specific business should serve as a warning to the Federal Government and the NNPC that the proper choice had been made to stop oil theft in the Niger Delta.
According to Eritei, the theft of the country’s oil resources has taken on a frightening scale at a time when the government is borrowing to run the country and should be appropriately addressed, just as the Government is doing.
He emphasized that any genuine solution would be blocked by the extremely affluent criminals running the multibillion Naira oil theft networks.
He added that the government shouldn’t be surprised by the attacks on the contract since oil thieves who have spent billions of dollars on tankers and staff to illegally pillage the nation’s oil resources won’t give up without a fight.
He said that the planned blackmail was merely the lethal oil cabal’s first sign of desperation.
He emphasized that the individuals responsible for the extensive economic sabotage of Nigeria will not feel at ease given Tompolo’s track record in NIMASS, where a company in which he had stake secured the waterways.
The group questioned why, out of the five firms hired, only the one by this specific firm was drawing criticism. He added that there had been no outcry from anyone about the fact that firms affiliated with a traditional ruler in Delta and his late in-law from Edo State had handled the same pipeline protection contract.
The group saw that Chief Tompolo did not object to or interfere with either company’s operations despite the fact that both were located in the Niger Delta.
The NNPC’s stance that it has no regrets for hiring the former head MEND to protect its oil pipeline network was praised in the statement.
He claimed that hiring a company in which Tompolo has a stake cannot make the decision to use private contractors to combat the threat of oil theft and pipeline damage wrong.
“We have watched with surprise and indeed consternation the attacks, deliberately put together to blackmail the Federal Government to cancel the pipeline surveillance and protection contract awarded to a firm in which Tompolo has interest.
“We believe that the Federal Government and indeed the NNPC have acted positively to promote the common good by embarking on this deliberate master stroke of a step to counter the mind-boggling theft of the nation’s disappearing resources.
“Logically, those feeding fat on odious money from stolen crude resources will not welcome the Government’s action without a fight. It is expected that they will commit huge resources to sabotage it.
“It is on this basis that we call on the Federal Government and the NNPC to be resolute and dismiss this call for the cancellation of the contract awarded to Tompolo.
“We also commend the NNPC for insisting on doing the right thing and staying with the action in spite of the mostly sponsored attacks on the Government.
“We are of the view that the contract promises to be a great leap in the right direction and the Managing Director of the NNPC is right when he declared that the corporation has no regret with the decision.
“Finally, we call on Tompolo to carry out his promise to reach out to various interest groups in the Niger Delta in the interest of a conducive atmosphere for the company’s critical operations.”
