Follow Us on Google
From Okwe Obi, Abuja
Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has charged President Bola Tinubu to deal with military officers involved in crude oil theft.
The National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, recently said the country was still losing 400,000 barrels of crude oil daily to local and international thieves despite efforts to end the menace.
HURIWA’s National Coordinator Emmanuel Onwubiko, in a statement, claimed that the current administration was more interested in media dramatisation about the issues of massive diversions of crude oil resources especially by a powerful cartel which allegedly included serving Naval and Army Generals as disclosed by two key figures involved.
Onwubiko also claimed that there is a high probability that certain powerful forces within the Nigerian Navy knows one or two things about these massive crude oil thefts so much so that it is getting involved in public spat with Government Ekpemupolo-led effort to rid the nation’s waterways of crude oil thefts.
“HURIWA has lamented the lack of commitment or political will of the President Tinubu’s government to expose, arrest, prosecute and jail military officers implicated in the widespread thefts of Nigeria’s crude oil resources daily.
“HURIWA specifically wondered why President Bola Ahmed Tinubu failed to take any concrete, realistic, transparent and open actions against the indicted but serving military officers who are lining their pockets with filthy lucre made from the diversion of Nigeria’s crude oil to the black market globally even after a huge body of evidence was made available personally to the President by both Chief Government Ekpemupolo otherwise known as Tompolo and even the former Niger Delta militant warlord and now loyalist of President Tinubu- Mr. Asari Dokubo.
“HURIWA said there is high probability that certain powerful forces within the Nigerian Navy knows one or two things about these massive crude oil thefts so much so that it is now getting involved in shameful public spat with Tompolo-led effort to rid the nation’s waterways of crude oil thefts.
“The Rights group said in the first place, the widely acclaimed contract handed over to Mr. Government Ekpemupolo otherwise known as Tompolo is clearly a vote of no confidence in the Navy which should have led to a clean sweep of all the officers implicated in the crime.
“But sadly, both the immediate past administration and the succeeding Tinubu government, showed and is showing disappointing attitudes towards concretely combating the increasing waves of crude oil thefts in the Country.
“HURIWA condemned the public show of shame by the Navy which has allegedly resorted to blackmailing the staff of Tompolo’s Security firm who initially exposed their indicted officers of involvement in the massive economic sabotage of Nigeria through active collaboration with the mafia implicated in the continuous thefts of Nigeria’s crude oil resources.”
He continued: The Rights group has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to set up an independent judicial inquisition on the allegations of involvement of military officers in crude oil thefts and for the panel to uncover, lists out, name, shame, prosecute and jail these economic saboteurs for their crimes against Nigerian people or ‘is President Tinubu mortally afraid of wielding the big stick against military officers diverting massive crudeboil resources that belong to the Nigerian masses?”
“HURIWA is also calling on Federal government to take steps to investigate the allegations made by Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited (TSL) against Nigerian Navy when it cleared the air over the incident at the Lekki area of Lagos involving its operatives and some Nigerian Navy personnel on August 29.”
