A stakeholder in the pipeline security surveillance contract in the Niger Delta region who is also an ex-militant leader, Mayor Eshanakpe Israel, a.k.a Akpodoro, has lampooned the owners of a vessel, MT FAISEL that was intercepted on August 2, 2023 by operatives of the Tantita Security Services, TSS, the contractor handling the contract of the pipeline security on behalf of the federal government.
Reacting to a report published in a section of the media and authored by one Omowale Ojewande, whom Mayor Akpodoro in Abuja, Thursday, described as a “hired gun contracted to do a wishy-washy and image laundering” for the vessel owners, said, President Ahmed Tinubu should discountenance such ‘tendentious and self serving’ call adding that the writer of that piece goofed badly.
The Urhobo-born Mayor said that, if anything, the firm whom he said its managers were faceless in the unfolding developments should rather have their firm sanctioned for their suspicious acts on the Nigerian waters particularly in the ‘fragile Niger Delta territories” where notorious bandits steal crude oil and ferry petroleum products to their haven for sale at the detriment of national interests.
According to the vociferous Mayor, the author of the piece threw morality over board as he “drooled and drivel” all through the content of hid piece in a futile effort to ambush investigation into what transpired before and after the arrest of the MT FRAISEL on that fateful day.
But for the need to set the records straight, Akpodoro said, there would have been no reason to respond to a “rant by the agents of the firm” adding that TSS has saved Nigeria from losing to dealers and wheelers of petroleum products billions of dollars since commencing its security operations in the coast of the Niger Delta region to which the FG is happy.
He called on the owners of MT FAISEL and the Nigerian Navy to come out clean in the mudslinging created by the purveyors of the suspected stolen petroleum products why wondering over the concern of the Navy in the scenario that’s is strictly a private business interest.
The former warlord questioned what he described as the overbearing interest of the navy over the arrest of a vessel laden with suspicious content noting that it is surprising that while the shop owners took the back seat in the matter the navy is on the driver’s seat holding brief for a company that compromised shipping standard that warranted it to be flagged midsea.
He said, even as a commuter on the Nigerian roads: “if a driver refuses to stop at the security checkpoints when flagged down, such vehicle stands the risk of being chased by operatives and if same vehicle becomes more suspicious in such circumstance a security personnel rises up to defend and challenge those who flagged the vehicle down.”
The road traffic scenario according to the founder of the Urhobo Youth Forum for Change, was what played out between the vessel’s crew and operatives of Tantita security on that fateful day.
He maintained that naval personnel challenged the operational rights of TSS men to board the ship and impede its movement adding that only an “ignorant entity” could question the modus operandi of an outfit that had succeeded in apprehending high profile oil thieves in recent times for which Nigerians are appreciative.
TSS has shown enough competence and capacity to tackle oil theft in Nigerian waters and to this, Akpodoro said, reactionary elements are paranoid while corruption is aggressively fighting back. This, he said, is evident in the manner “Ojewande’s piece was concocted” to mislead unsuspecting members of the public and the government.
The posers according to the Mayor are: ” Were TSS operatives alone when the vessel was intercepted or were there security personnel attached to them at the time? If the Nigerian Navy doesn’t have hands in that vessel laden with suspected stolen products why being so protective of that vessel instead of the owners of the said products coming out to speak?
“Moreso, according to what Tantita published, the vessel was cleared to go to Lagos as port of discharge by NMDPRA as applied for but Navy gave clearance to it for a Jetty in Portharcourt Rivers State; why different port of discharge?
“Finally, the Nigeria Navy should allow the owners of the products on board the vessel to come out and speak and why are the navy crying more than the bereaved?” Mayor Akpodoro queried, adding that the time has come for the Nigerian Naval institution to be more circumspect of its personnel.
Nigeria, he said, belongs to everyone and that no one is more Nigerian than the other. Therefore, no matter the blackmail from those he described as fifth columnists can derail the good TSS is doing for fatherland saying, “arresting a ship and anchoring same to safety is more difficult than waiting vainfully for a masquerade to visit you.”
