Protest against oil pipelines protection design to sabotage oil facilities surveillance – Communities

A Coalition of Isoko Communities has condemned the protest by some ethnic groups against Tantita Security Services, a surveillance company saddled with protecting oil facilities in the Niger Delta region. Addressing journalists on behalf of the Communities, Chief Idonis Uwubare, President General of Isoko Kingdom, said the protest was not borne of patriotic interest but […]

A Coalition of Isoko Communities has condemned the protest by some ethnic groups against Tantita Security Services, a surveillance company saddled with protecting oil facilities in the Niger Delta region.

Addressing journalists on behalf of the Communities, Chief Idonis Uwubare, President General of Isoko Kingdom, said the protest was not borne of patriotic interest but a distraction engineered by some cartels seeking to destabilize Nigeria’s oil security framework.

He said they alerting Nigerians and security agencies to a calculated campaign, allegedly sponsored by crude oil theft syndicates operating within Isoko and neighbouring ethnic communities, to undermine Tantita Security and sabotage the ongoing oil facilities surveillance operations in Delta State.

According to him, intelligence report revealed that the recent protests against the surveillance was part of a wider agenda to dismantle the oil surveillance architecture by Tantita, which has significantly reduced crude oil theft since its engagement.

“Prior to Tantita’s contract award, similar surveillance operations were also awarded and managed by other companies in the area without any ethnic tension or protest.”

He pointed out that those championing current ethnic agitators were silent during those previous periods, despite massive crude oil losses and widespread environmental damage.

“We therefore find it grossly misleading for individuals who are either non-residents or are unfamiliar with the prevailing realities on ground , calling for the split or cancellation of Tantita’s contract”

He alleged that faceless groups calling for the cancellation are fronting for criminal networks aiming to revive the illegal oil bunkering in the area but see Tantita’s operations as an obstacle. .

He however called on the Federal Government, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), and relevant stakeholders to ignore the protest, describing it as distractions.