Ijaw group lauds Tompolo’s TSL, asks Tinubu to ignore unpatriotic elements

The Ijaw Youths Network has slammed critics of High Chief Government Ekpemupolo, popularly known as Tompolo, over the pipeline surveillance contract awarded to his firm, Tantita Security Services Limited, by the Federal Government in 2022.

Since August 2022, TSL has been at the forefront of the intensified campaign against oil theft which has brought the nation’s economy on its knees.

The pan-Ijaw group described the attacks by an ex-militant leader from Ondo State as shocking in view of the fact that the firm has been delivering on its mandate of stemming crude oil theft in the Niger Delta.

The IYN Coordinator, Frank Ebikabo and Federal Ebiaridor, Secretary, in a statement, asked President Bola Tinubu to ignore those calling for a review of the tripartite contract, describing them as “disgruntled elements in the corridors of power who are driven by mischief and a wild attempt to put an unfair scar on the face of history.”

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IYN maintained that there is incontrovertible evidence that TSL offered the desperately needed solutions to the huge “existential economic crisis of mind-boggling proportion executed by a lethal criminal gang that targeted the soul of the nation’s economy.”

It added that in the past year, the achievements of TSL in curbing oil theft in Nigeria can not be contradicted, noting that it is the height of absurdity for “the convoluted minds to posit that the best way to reward a child who has scored excellent marks is to make him repeat his class.”

The group equally cited the pass marks given to TSL by the NNPC GMD, Kele Kyari, who told Nigerians that the pipeline contract with the oil surveillance company had yielded massive results which is not comparable in monetary terms with the contract sum.

The group noted that the firm discovered 295 illegal connections to NNPC pipelines many of which have been in sabotage operations for years, and destroyed thousands of illegal refineries in the region in addition to the arrest of massive vessels involved in siphoning crude oil in the Niger Delta.