Oil theft: Military tackles Tompolo, says allegations against Navy ‘cheap blackmail’

The military high command, on Thursday, took a swipe at the Tantita Security Services Limited, a private security firm owned by Government Ekpemupolo, popularly known as Tompolo, over allegations it levelled against the Nigerian Navy regarding oil theft in the Niger Delta.

Describing the allegations against the Navy as “cheap blackmail”, the military said it would not be deterred in carrying out its constitutional duties in getting rid of the criminals hell-bent on sabotaging the economy of the country, particularly in the Niger Delta region.

Daily Trust reports that Tompolo, on Tuesday when he visited the leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), alleged that the Navy was sabotaging its efforts in protecting Nigeria’s oil pipelines from vandals, who are oil thieves.

Reacting to the allegations while fielding questions from journalists shortly after a press briefing at Defence Headquarters, Abuja, the Director of Defence Media Operations, Edward Buba, said they would not want any “back-and-forth” on the issues raised.

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Buba, a major-general, said since both organisations – Navy and Tantita – were working for the same purpose of getting rid of criminals in the maritime domain and increasing crude oil production, they should rather team up than try to take credit or discredit one another.

“As to the question regarding the Nigerian Navy and the Chief Executive of Tantita, you see, I’m almost laughing because it’s laughable. But what I want to say about this sort of situation is this, in this situation, we seek cooperation, not conflict. That’s what we want, that is what our people want,” he said.

“We want to increase the crude oil production of our nation to help our nation, that is the mainstay of our economy. We don’t want all this back-and-forth.

“We will work together with all our partners,” he told journalists at the briefing.

Earlier, Buba disclosed that troops of Operation DELTA SAFE maintained momentum against the activities of crude oil theft, adding that several illegal refining sites were destroyed while stolen products were also recovered.