HURIWA alleges official complicity in oil theft as FCT club urges compact solution

Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), yesterday, backed human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), that there is a deliberate attempt to cover up the involvement of military personnel in oil theft.

The group, in a statement, by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, described as “sacrilegious, contemptible and scandalous,” the justification by the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Lucky Irabor, of the destruction of a vessel loaded with stolen crude oil in Niger Delta.

It, therefore, sought constitution of a judicial panel of inquiry on the vessel set ablaze by security agents after being arrested by a private pipeline surveillance team, Tantita Security Services, led by a former militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo, popularly known as Tompolo.

At a State House briefing last week, Irabor had said the swift destruction of the oil bunkering vessel by the criminal suspects was in line with the “rules of engagement.” The CDS added that security agents, especially officers of the Nigerian Navy, subsequently, set the “instrument of operation” ablaze, noting that no investigation was needed to carry out the action.

Continuing, Onwubiko submitted: “The brisk destruction of the controversial vessel used for illegal oil lifting from the Niger Delta creeks by security agents is suspicious and shameful. The defenceless justification by the CDS is condemnable and displays desperation to cover up the involvement of military personnel, top-ranking politicians, businessmen and oil companies, who have for decades, plundered Nigeria’s commonwealth through the illicit act of oil theft.

“Already, Tompolo’s company said about 58 illegal oil points have been discovered so far since the operation to end oil theft in Delta and Bayelsa states commenced. Also, Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Mele Kyari, said the Company uncovered an illegal oil connection in the Niger Delta that operated for nine years, which means Nigeria has lost over 600,000 barrels per day to crude oil theft.”

IN a similar vein, an Abuja-based group, Club 1288, has charged NNPC GCEO, Kyari, on adoption intelligent approaches to tackle oil theft in the country.

It observed that the economic sabotage has assumed a national issue that required collective efforts of civil society, multinationals, citizens and government.

The president, Rear Admiral Gbadejo Adedeji (rtd), told The Guardian that the club is to launch a N50 million appeal fund to make life bearable for Nigerians in remote villages.

Adedeji said investiture of the club’s 11th president would equally target facilitation of social well-being of the less-privileged in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and neighbouring states.

He said: “This year, the club is launching an appeal fund of N50 million. Our objective this time is to provide solar powered boreholes in some remote Nigerian villages without portable water supply and to give scholarship to a number of brilliant but indigent Nigerian students.

“By the way, I need to add that club members themselves contribute generously to this fund on the well-known Yoruba principle that if you have a load on the ground to be lifted onto your head, it requires that you start the lifting by yourself to encourage others to join you.”

Adedeji said in its 34 years of existence, the club has contributed significantly to the development of communities within the FCT and its environs through implementation of the people-oriented project.