…alleges ex-militant leader reneged on the interfaced pact
Recall that the surveillance contract, reportedly worth N48 billion per year (N4 billion per month), was awarded by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) on behalf of the immediate-past administration of Muhammadu Buhari in August 2022.
NNPCL’s CEO, Mele Kyari, while speaking at the 49th session of the state house briefing at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on August 29 last year, said the decision was necessitated by the need for Nigeria to hire private contractors to man its oil pipeline network nationwide due to massive oil theft.
Kyari argued that it was not the first time that individuals within the Niger Delta region were awarded contracts for pipeline surveillance.
But New Telegraph gathered yesterday evening that a proposal prepared by close confidants of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to review the contract was already awaiting presidential approval.
New Telegraph reliably gathered from a highly placed source, who is in the know that many issues were reviewed in the proposal, especially the surveillance contract awarded to Tompolo.
The source said: “One of the key issues silently looked into was the pipeline contract that was awarded to Tompolo.
“You know there were so many opinions on the matter and it almost created another round of friction in the Niger Delta. “Some wanted an outright cancellation of the contract, honestly.
“But to be sincere, there was nothing wrong in having the private sector participate in protecting our national assets.
“However, the volume is so enormous that it could breed another round of crisis.
“Again, we need to be careful not to fully depend on a private individual without third eyes.
“So Mr. President directed a silent move to review the whole arrangement.
“It is not as if the president does not want it to continue, but he wants a situation whereby everything that is done seems to carry all stakeholders along.
“So, we have devised a means that will be all-inclusive of critical stakeholders but they must also act the way Tompolo is acting to shore up our production output.
“There is nothing political in the arrangement that we are floating and it is already awaiting the approval of the President.”
New Telegraph also gathered that one of Tinubu’s staunch supporters in the Niger Delta region, Alhaji Dokubo Asari, who had allegedly been at the forefront of the agitation against the surveillance contract given to Tompolo was among the brains behind the latest move to split the job.
It was learned that he was likely to be a major beneficiary if the president gives his approval eventually.
According to our source, one of Dokubo’s grouses against Tompolo is that the former warlord did not hide his preference for PDP’s Atiku Abubakar in the last presidential election.
The source said: “Dokubo has a genuine case, but his approach may be wrong, no doubt. His insistence that Tompolo does not deserve to be that much compensated is a very genuine argument.
“I was among those interfaced with Tompolo in the build-up to the presidential election. We had an agreement to work together but he reneged at the last minute.
“Even at that, Mr President still made a final push for him to deliver Omo- Agege but he did the worst. So how can someone like that now turn around to be the chief celebrant of the game? That is Dokubo’s argument.”
Among those who are rooting for the splitting of the surveillance include a close relationship with President Tinubu who heads a multi-billion naira.
