Some of the groups and individuals clamouring for the surveillance contracts are either surrogates of oil syndicates or barons fronting for international criminal cartels.
They merely masquerade as concerned persons with the interest of the nation at heart, but far from it, they are self- serving and their intentions: highly dubious.
They sought entrenchment of the old order, so their international counterparts can move into their areas of influence to continue the illegitimate crude trafficking.
ONDO STATE
Though Ondo State is categorized as oil producing, it however has the least of oil pipelines, if any, both on sea and on land.
So, if an ex-militant agitator in Ondo State is asking for pipelines surveillance contract, the question therein, is where are the pipelines he is to monitor and protect in his area? We challenge him to publicly show the pipelines in his area, which he plans to monitor for NNPCL and for which he is asking for the pipeline contract be splited in his favour.
It is ridiculous that in the face of limited facilities in Ondo state, an individual is headstrong with designs to scuttle Tantita Security Services Limited contract renewal.
There are therefore ulterior motives behind the demand.
Ondo State is the hub of international oil cartel that use the labyrinth of creeks and the high sea to smuggle stolen crude oil out of the country to waiting buyers, who stormed the areas with big ocean-going vessels.
Inspite of the observed territorial incongruityand absence of pipelines in his areas, a prominent ex-militant in Ondo State, was given the opportunity to participate in a segment of the surveillance contract, by allowing him to provide boats to monitor and prevent international oil barons from operating in his enclave.
This was done for inclusitivity, as aforesaid that there are no pipelines in his area to be monitored.
He was saddled with the responsibility of preventing illegal crude operations by trailing the operators with boats since barges and boats are used in the transfer of smuggled crude into ships berthed offshore, in his locality.
Despite this privileged opportunity to manage such responsibility, the ex-militant leader shirked his duty to the nation. He deliberately mishandled the boats surveillance contract.
His negligence or collaboration enabled international racketeers to successfully move barges loaded with crude to international waters and siphoned into ocean liners for onward transportation abroad.
In the light of the aforesaid, Tantita Security Services Limited, had a wind of the lapse and illegal activities, it mobilized to his enclaves in Ondo State where it arrested ships about to sail out of the nation’s territorial waters with stolen crude.
In most cases, TANTITA operatives, of Ilaje stock, move to his so-called territory to apprehend oil thieves and confiscate their equipment while the boat surveillance contractor went into slumber, apparently, for pecuniary gains.
Tantita made extra efforts to gather intelligence, ambush and apprehend MT TURA 2, which has been operating off Ondo state shores for years. This ordinarily should be the duty of the ex-militant to discharge within his ambience in Ondo State if he is truly doing the job alloted to him.
In addition, his area of operation produces no oil, yet he demands inclusion in the pipelines surveillance contract.
He should name the the oil wells and the multinationals handling such explorations in his area. The whole noise and controversies are sponsored by syndicated barons that Tantita Security Services Limited is trying so hard to dislodge.
BAYELA & RIVERS STATES.
These states, Bayelsa and Rivers, are also the hub of international operation of criminal barons as crude is harnessed through a haphazard network of pipelines illegally connected to those of NNPCL flowlines.
There is, however, sanity in Delta State, as all smuggling operations have been sufficiently nipped in the bud.
And Tantita Security Services Limited is trying to spread the sanity to Bayelsa and Rivers, hence the uproar from the collaborating abettors, who mouth directives from their sponsors.
Before the Tantita pipelines surveillance contract, there was black smug and soothes hanging in the skies of Port Harcourt.
But that has become a thing of the past.
Tantita destruction of illegal crude refining camps that dotted the landscape of Rivers State, is responsible for the clearance of the smug from atmosphere in the state.
Almost all communities were involved in the illegal crude business.
They were financed by the big oil thieves.
Hence, it was easy for culprits to evade arrest.
The oil thieves also enjoyed the support of a handful of law enforcement agents, they gave them protection and never brought them to book.
The same oil cartels also tried to use host communities by sponsoring protest on their behalf as it was in the case in Koko, Delta State.
Some renegades in Koko community recently took to the streets in support of the nefarious activities of a notorious local oil baron operating in the community.
The cartel offered large sums of money to the community to agitate and fight dirty, on their behalf.
The cacophonous noise coming from Bayelsa and Rivers is a ruse to divert attention from the illegal refineries that still operate in parts of both states.
They want Tantita operation restrained from those states.
There is more to their noise than meets the eyes.
Hence, they should be ignored.
Tantita will completely clean the Aegean stables in those states.
Sanity has to be restored to increase crude production and boost the nation’s oil revenue, so that government can finance infrastructures and meet her commitment to the people.
In the course of its activities, Tantita unmasked the identity of most operators responsible for crude theft and offered them an olive branches to refrain from the illegality, but they remain recalcitrant and are bent on continuing.
This is because when it comes to doing something legal, the profit is not as good as that of the illegal business.
There is no surveillance contract that would be given to them, that is going to make them to stop the theft and pipelines vandalization. Even if given, they will collect the contract and still continue the illegal business.
They cannot be pacified, the benefits from the international syndicates outweigh what the Nigerian government can offer.
At every moment, big ships and ocean-liners are anchored and positioned in the Atlantic Ocean awaiting supplies from them.
These national saboteurs are not in the least ready for any cooperation with the Federal Government. They are too neck deep in illicit profiteering to care about national interest.
To kill a dangerous serpent, its head must be dealt a blow to paralyze it.
The next phase of Tantita Security Services Limited is to interdict, intercept and apprehend the culprits in their illegal activities.
It is a task and commitment that Tantita pledges to carry out to the letter for the common good. So may God Almighty help them.
Yours sincerely,
Signed:
CHIEF EZEKIEL UGEDI – CHAIRMAN
EFEMENA EJOMAFUVWE – SECRETARY
ORIGHOMISAN EZEKIEL – PUBLICITY SECRETARY
NIGER DELTA DEVELOPMENT AGENDA ,
NO 10, HOSPITAL ROAD,
OVOM, YENAGOA,
BAYELSA STATE.
