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From Joseph Obukata, Warri
The Niger Delta Peoples Assembly (NDPA) has expressed dismay over recent protest in Warri Delta State, dismissing the protest as a poorly executed attempt to discredit the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari.
The NDPA questions the legitimacy of the protest, carried out last week by a “small group of misinformed youths” outside the NNPCL building which houses the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the Nigerian Midstream Petroleum Authority (NMPA).
The group noted that the protests, which were intended to push for an investigation into and removal of Mr. Kyari, lacked the necessary impact due to poor organization and unclear objectives.
According to the group, in a statement made available to newsmen in Warri on Sunday, the mastermind behind the ineffective protest is “a prominent traditional monarch who, along with his illicit oil tycoon allies”, aims to unfairly benefit from the oil industry without making the necessary investments.
The group alleged that the said monarch had sponsored the protest to force NNPCL to renew his pipeline surveillance contract and paid the various fictitious youth and women’s groups to participate in the protest, which was portrayed as a collective action against the NNPCL’s GCEO.
The protesters’ had alleged financial misconduct to poor performance and autocratic behavior against the NNPCL CEO as reason for the protest but the group, in their reaction, however, maintained that these claims lack substance without a formal auditor’s report indicating any improprieties by Mr. Kyari.
They claimed that NNPCL, under the leadership of Mr. Kyari, maintains a clean record and continues to be subject to regular audits by government institutions, adding that the rehabilitation of the nation’s refineries is underway, with the Warri and Port Harcourt refineries set to resume operations in December 2023.
In the statement signed by its National Coordinator, Richard Toritseju Okotie, the group also lauded the NNPCL’s GCEO for his tireless efforts to combat oil theft and pipeline vandalism, significantly increasing crude oil production in 2023, maintaining that “his dedication is widely acknowledged within and beyond Nigeria”.
NDPA, in the statement alleged that the monarch’s dissatisfaction “stems from Kyari’s refusal to renew his underperforming pipeline surveillance contract”, which ended in September, adding that the NNPCL under Kyari’s leadership is moving towards a more efficient, global contract, a move that has left “the monarch and his illicit oil barons frustrated”.
“Crude carrying pipelines in the areas under the monarch’s control were daily compromised and vandalised by oil thieves, while he collected millions of dollars for unexecuted jobs. The era of such free money no longer exists in the current regime”, the group insisted.
They claimed that the monarch, in collaboration with suspected oil thieves, is also displeased with Kyari’s mission to eliminate all illegal oil operations from NNPCL hence they have resorted to hiring protesters to slander the GCEO.
“Mele Kyari recently awarded pipelines rehabilitation and surveillance contracts throughout the country to a consortium of oil firms in a bid to ensuring uninterrupted conveyance of crude and supply of refined products to all nooks and crannies of the country.
“He was thoroughly embittered when the NNPCL management informed him that his surveillance contract would not be renewed, as it would be subsumed under a very effective and efficient global contract.
“The offence of Mele Kyari is that he refused to renew the monarch’s contract when it expired a month ago. Hence, he is baying for his blood.
“The embattled monarch is also reported to be angry with the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) led by Mr. Gbenga Komolafe, for not circumventing the implementation of the PIA in his domain to his benefit. He devised desperate tactics to bypass the PIA law, but it ended in fiasco. He was roundly ignored by NUPRC and tamed by the NNPCL”, the statement reads.
The NDPA therefore urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to ignore the media exaggerations surrounding the protest, saying that the disgruntled monarch had sponsored the protest against the President’s interests.
While saying that they fully supports the continuation of Kyari’s commendable work for the national interest, the group noted that only those involved in unlawful activities fear his leadership.
