The Ijaw Peoples Development Initiative, (IPDI), has lambasted the Nigerian Navy, saying it is a disappointment, alleging it made no achievements while it held the pipeline surveillance responsibility.
The groups anger follows a recent allegation by Oweizide Government Ekpemupolo, better known as Tompolo, that the Navy is sabotaging its efforts in the fight against crude oil theft in the Niger Delta region.
According to reports, IPDI National Coordinator, Austin Ozobo, in a telephone chat, claimed that rather than make positive achievements, the country bled economically under Navy surveillance, stressing that oil theft was at its peak.
Alleging that the Navy connived with ship owners to steal crude oil, Ozobo queried: Do you know that many ships load oil from different points in this country are not recorded?
This Navy you see, theyre fighting Tompolo because it is no longer business as usual. Navy officials become billionaires overnight through oil theft. Tompolo, as a strong man, will not allow them to do that. And you know, he is spoiling their business and thats the anger of the Navy, he stated.
Ozobo, who is also the National President of the Ijaw Publishers Forum, said, the Navy cannot come and tell us that they dont know anything about oil theft, because the menace is so prevalent the time they were at the peak of the fight against oil theft.
Theyre just struggling to make the government believe that theyre working and that they should be given the surveillance job. Thats just the blackmail theyre trying to do. Anybody thats saying Tompolo is trying to blackmail Navy, its a lie. It is the Navy thats blackmailing him because theyre not happy that the job is given to a civilian. They said they(Navy) being military are the right people to handle surveillance job in the Country and that has been the envy of the Navy.
Ozobo claimed that Tompolo was not just alleging Navy sabotage but noted that the issues have played out other times. He claimed that many vessels had also been apprehended and escorted by the Navy when they found out that there was no licence for them to even load in the first instance.
Recall that Oweizide Government Ekpemupolo had recently raised an alarm that the Nigerian Navy is sabotaging its efforts in the fight against crude oil theft in the Country.
Tompolo made the allegations when the leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association, (NBA) paid him a courtesy visit at his country home, Oporoza Community, headquarters of Gbaramatu Kingdom, in Warri South-West local government area of Delta State.
