Agency reports,
An activist, Comrade Henschel Nwozuzu, has faulted President Muhammadu Buhari’s government over the N45.8bn pipeline security contract awarded to the leader of the defunct Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta, MEND, Chief Government Ekpemukpolo, a.k.a Tompolo.
In a chat with our correspondent over the weekend, Comrade Nwozuzu said the Mayor of Urhoboland, who is the Coordinator of the National Coalition of Niger Delta Ex-Agitators, NCNDE-A was more deserving of such Federal Government patronage based on his track record of stabilizing peace in the Niger Delta region right from when the FG declared Presidential Amnesty.
He noted with consternation the rationale behind what he described as the contract awarded to a man, who was severally accused of complicity in economic crimes against the state on the strength of which he was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC and was at a time declared wanted by the Federal Government.
“This development,” the activist noted, “amounts to rewarding disloyalty and rebellion while sidelining those who put their lives on the line for the good of the nation.”
“Tompolo’s history” he added, “is replete with disloyalty to the government in the Niger Delta region,” saying “the government goofed badly in the security contract awarded him.”
“Such a person he further stressed shouldn’t be entrusted with the security of Nigeria’s waterways wondering how the FG arrived at such decision.
“To allow such citizens access to gunboats and other weapons in a fragile environment like the Niger Delta region is an anomaly that doesn’t obtain in a sane clime questioning; where was Tompolo during the renewed insurgent led by the Niger Delta Avengers, NDA,” which, he said, “rose in arms against the President Buhari-led federal government shortly after his swearing into office as President in 2015.”
“The current administration,” according to the vociferous Nwozuzu, “operates in a manner that promotes strife and civil disobedience adding that, arming a non state actor could be dangerous to national well-being but for nepotism, and poor administration of justice system, Tompolo shouldn’t have been walking the streets a free man.”
“Akpodoro,” he stated, “has being in the forefront of building peace in the Delta an act he said got to crescendo during the reign of terror championed by the “infamous NDA” that he described as bunch of unpatriotic elements.”
The social activist noted that Akpodoro was that man who raised the alarm when militants were stockpiling arms in the creeks preparatory to the then renewed insurgency which he said almost overwhelmed the security forces. He further averred that even when Akpodoro who is now the Mayor of Urhoboland raised the alarm at the time “racketeers within the Presidency” ignored him until the Avengers struck blowing the pipelines, which depleted the nation’s foreign exchange earnings from crude oil with the attendant effect of cutting down the monthly allocation from the FG.
He went further to raise suspicion over recent discoveries by Tantita Security Services Limited, owned by the Tompolo wondering over the possibility of people around the trans Forcados pipelines feigning ignorance of a pipeline through, which crude were stolen and loaded into massive vessels in the Nigerian waters where security agencies lobby to serve.
According to the Imo State-born Nwozuzu, the pipelines conveying stolen crude in the Forcados axis was known to everyone around that corridor long time ago, including officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited, NNPCL, the security agencies, Nigeria Petroleum Development Company, NPDC, the men of the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR and other stakeholders in the oil industries adding that the ‘so called discoveries and the subsequent excitement by the NNPCL is no news to any reasonable Nigerian.”
“Nigeria,” according to Nwozuzu, “as a sovereign nation have its military, which is capable of securing the pipelines questioning why same was contracted to a private citizen who is low in patriotism and national solidarity.”
“The contract so awarded according to the social activist should be given to a person like Akpodoro, who stuck out his neck for the state in time of crisis and not those who initiated, planned and executed crimes against the state.
Furthermore, Nwozuzu queried the expertise and professional aptitude of the duo of Azunnai Andrew and Emeke Igwe, who were engaged to secure the pipelines on the corridors of Egbema and Oguta in Imo State, respectively noting that the awards draw a map of nepotism and racketeering.”
He urged the FG through the NNPCL to immediately award the surveillance contract of Oil Mining Lease, OML 30 and 34 lying on Urhoboland to Akpodoro, who he described as a statesman noting that while the Urhobo-born former ex-militant leader was collaborating with security forces to cripple the activities of the NDA, some unscrupulous elements in the region who now enjoy government’s patronage championed offensive against the country.
Nwozuzu called for, increased remuneration for the country’s security agencies for them to deliver quality services to the nation decrying poor salary structure for the Nigerian military and adducing national security lapses to poor remuneration.
