An oil and gas monitoring group, the Niger Delta Indigenous Movement for Radical Change (NDIMRC) has rained knocks on the Governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara ,for saying it was wrong to award such the pipeline’s surveillance contract to ‘one man’.
The Rivers State governor, Siminalayi Fubara, had on August 26th, 2023, fumed over the crude oil pipeline surveillance contract awarded to Tantita Security Services led by former militant leader, High Chief Government Ekpemupolo (aka Tompolo) by the Federal Government.
The governor said in Port Harcourt that it was wrong to award such a contract to ‘one man’.
He said the decision would not achieve the objective it was meant to serve because,in his view, an individual should not have control over the assets in another’s territory.
Though the Governor failed to mention a name, he told a Federal Government delegation led by National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu, that “Security of the pipeline should not be given to one man or one person.”
The team also comprised Defence Minister Muhammed Badaru; Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle; Minister of State (Oil), Petroleum Resources, Heineken Lokpobiri; Minister of State (Gas), Petroleum Resources, Ekperipe Ekpo; Chief of Defense Staff, General Christopher Gwabin Musa and the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt Gen Taoreed Lagbaja.
He said: “How can someone from Kalabari be controlling the pipeline in Ogoni? There is no way it will work. We must look at bringing all the key people in the various communities.
But NDIMRC said that the Governor was not being fair to the people of the Niger Delta Region and other stakeholders and implored President Bola Tinubu to be wary of the Governor and also call him to order now for the interest of peace.
In an open letter to President Tinubu, the group expressed shock over the ultrances of the Rivers State Governor, saying that his words were capable of disrupting the prevailing peace in the Niger Delta Region, saying that since the pipelines surveillance contract was awarded by the administration of former President Mohammadu Buhari to Tompolo, the region has known peace and crude oil thieves milking the nation dry put under control.
Nelly Emma, John Sailor, and Stanley Mukoro, President, Secretary, and Public Relations Officers respectively of NDIMRC, said in the open letter to the President that while illegal oil dealers are enemies of the country, mischief-makers and crude oil thieves are actively working to prevent renewal of the contract because it has crumbled their illicit empires, saying that; “We hate to believe that the Governor of Rivers is encouraging these enemies of the nation who are stealing our crude oil for selfish reasons”.
