The Nigerian Navy and Tantita Security Services Limited, a private firm owned by Government Ekpemupolo, popularly known as Tompolo, on Tuesday traded blames among themselves over growing oil theft in the Niger Delta.
According to Tompolo’s company, the Navy was railing against the efforts to check crude oil theft, but the Navy countered Tantila’s allegations as false, saying there were many successes it had recorded in taming oil theft in the region.
Tompolo told the President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Afam Isigwe (SAN), recently that the navy was deeply involved in deep sabotage of combating oil theft in the region.
He said the confrontation between Tantita Security Services Limited and the Navy was hindering his operations in securing Nigeria’s oil pipelines across major areas in the Niger Delta.
Tompolo said anytime they arrested oil thieves, the “big men” would quickly come to their aid and rescue using lawyers.
“Just a few days ago, our team intercepted a vessel in Port Harcourt, and the Navy opened fire on Tantita Security while we were accompanied by the police, DSS, and Civil Defence,” he said.
Tompolo called on the NBA president and his team to support the private firm by holding his members (lawyers) accountable and dissuading them from defending any oil thief arrested.
In countering Tomplo’s allegations the spokesperson of the Nigerian Navy, Commodore Aiwuyor Adams-Aliu, said they would not join issues with Tantita, saying all that Tompolo said were “false”, hence the reason the Navy is succeeding in the fight against oil theft.
“My response is that whatever Tantita Security must have said is false and I have sent the Nigerian Navy operational successes out there,” he said.
