Lucky Obukohwo Reporting
A group under the aegis of Ijaw Youths Network (IYN), has flayed the campaign of calumny targeted at Government Ekpemupolo also known as Tompolo, over the pipeline surveillance contract awarded to his firm, Tantita Security Services Limited (TSL), by the federal government in 2022.
Reacting to the campaigns in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja on Thursday, the pan-Ijaw group described the attacks, allegedly sponsored by an ex-militant leader from Ondo State, as shocking.
The group also described the attacks as uncalled for in view of the fact that the firm has been delivering on its mandate of stemming crude oil theft in the Niger Delta.
IYN Coordinator, Frank Ebikabo and Federal Ebiaridor, Secretary, urged President Bola Tinubu to ignore those calling for a review of the tripartite contract.
They tagged 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.”
IYN further insisted that there is incontrovertible evidence that Tantita Security Services Limited 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 cannot 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, Mele 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 statement read; “We have watched with shock the sponsored campaign of calumny by a group of frustrated individuals against the person of Ekpemupolo (Tompolo) over the pipeline security contract awarded to Tantita Security Services Limited.
“As an organisation whose membership spreads across the clans of the Ijaw nation, we had taken the decision to ignore the indirect attacks on the Presidency and the Nigeria NPCL over the engagement of Tantita to stem the alarming theft of the nation’s crude resources in 2022.
“However, our investigation has shown that those calling on the President to initiate a review of the tripartite security contract are 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.
“Perhaps, only those who are behind this pitiable campaign of calumny and the incendiary narrative against Tantita Security Services Limited will opt to embrace a selective amnesia to forget the dire state of the nation’s oil economy and the desperate move by the federal government to salvage a bad situation,” the statement read.
Truth Live News reports that TSL has, since August last year, been at the forefront of the intensified campaign against oil theft, which has brought the nation’s economy to its knees.