PRESS RELEASE: Re: Ex-Ministers, Diplomats Ask Buhari to institute Judicial Inquiry into Oil Theft

A group of concerned Nigerians under the auspices of Kungiyyar Mutanen Arewa have reacted to calls in several quarters across the country,  who are requesting President Muhammadu Buhari to institute a Judicial Panel of Inquiry into the recent discoveries of Oil Theft that has attracted global attention.

The group, in a statement issued and signed by the duo of Comrade Saidu Bello and Comrade Aminu Saad Gobirawa; its Secretary General and Organising Secretary respectively with copies made available to journalists in the nation’s capital, Abuja on Wednesday stated that;

“Ordinarily, asking the government in power, to Institute judicial inquiry into any item of major public interest, is both normal and patriotic.

“However, when such demands are auspiciously predicated on a desire by some hitherto detached personalities or group, to diminish the unprecedented worthy achievements recorded on the same issue, public eyebrows, especially of members with discerning minds, would certainly be raised,” He is noted to have said.

Speaking further, the Kungiyyar Mutanen Arewa, in its press release, stressed that, “Needless to say, that the startling revelations exponentially being made by the godsend Tantita Security Services to stem the nation’s age-long oil theft cases, have been loftily commendable, and it is important that this patriotic initiative be supported and encouraged by all means.

“We in the Kungiyyar Mutanen Arewa, find most baffling, the sudden interest shown by a splinter forum of former Ministers and diplomats, against the good works of the audacious and result-oriented Tantita Security Services Limited, under the management of a Government Ekpemupolo a.k.a. Tompolo, generally regarded as a maverick but who many have come to credit with the rare interventions into the disturbing happenings in the Niger Delta, especially in the area of oil bunkering, sea piracy and ethnic national agitations, making him the most qualified and benevolent revolutionary to carry out any meaningful surveillance of critical Government assets in the Niger Delta.

The group’s Secretary General, in the statement, argued that,
“Undoubtedly, it is thought in many circles that this curious call for a Judicial Inquiry by this Academy of former Diplomats may have been informed by fear of its members being eventually exposed as complicit to the hitherto heinous crime that continues to bleed the country dry.”

He said: “The call by this group and its cohorts, also further smack of desperation to keep some high level economic sabotage conspiracies in a veil of stinking secrecy, as suggested in the attempt to present Tantita Security Services and the patriotic surveillance it offers in bad light. It is also seen as an insidious attempt to blackmail its proprietor, High Chief Government Ekpemupolo (a.k.a Tompolo), who has continued to exalt national interest over quick fixes for material gains.”

Demanding for answers, the kungiyar Mutanen Arewa asked rhetorically ” ,,,, when did this Academy come to know about Tantita and its legitimate activities, across the Niger Delta? Why the sudden interests in its activities and request for this fastidious scrutiny now?”

“Without Tantita’s revelations of discovering and unbundling the worrisomely hideous 4-kilometre pipelines, would this Academy have bothered to question the depleting state of our crude oil export and evident incapacity to stem the rising incident of oil theft? Bello asked.

The Kungiyyar Mutanen Arewa, in the statement, expressed concerns as it raised further objections, saying; “Another worrying concern about this emergency Academy of international affairs, is the curious composition of its signatories, characterized by persons with doubtful national antecedents especially their sterile detachments to matters of national progression, justice, equity and fair play, which makes it all the more obvious that this nascent call to the President Muhammadu Buhari led federal government to set up a judicial Inquiry at a time stealth pipelines are uncovered everywhere is done in bad taste.
They insisted that any judicial Inquiry will be pre judgemental and amount to abuse of institutional processes and if heeded, could cast unnecessary aspersions on the sense of justice of this administration, especially since, the discovery of illegal pipelines has sent shivers down the spines of those behind the monumental economic sabotage, which would save what used to be huge fortunes in the hands of the few at the expense of the many.

“Secondly, it is to be thought that as members of the international community, global best practices foreclose vendetta, witch hunt and bare faced cynicism as veritable tool for state craft and diplomacy. For how else could one imagine that a person of the caliber of Prof Bolaji Akinyemi just for a riband to stick to his coat and in the guise of civic obligation will arbitrarily choose to thread the path of treachery to seek his pound of flesh over nothing.”

“To put mildly, the approach is clearly awkward, antiquarian, bizarre, counterproductive, conservative, and unbecoming of him and of the Academy he represents.

“His action has only indicated the fears of an inter-generational complex or conflict, with High Chief Ekpemupolo who is championing the timely and promisingly epoch-making and instructive departure from the customary business as usual syndrome among Nigerians.”

In its conclusion, the Kungiyyar Mutanen Arewa, reiterates and appealed to the conscience of those on the side of Nigeria, when it directly called out the Group Managing Director of the NNPCL Geologist Mele kolo kyari on his shoulders the burden of proof lie,

“Not to bow to the ill-conceived thoughts of the misguided persons whose means of criminal heist of Nigerias crude resources have been taken away through the bold move initiated by the Group managing Director to checkmate the blatant thievery and illegal refineries in the Niger Delta.” Kungiyyar Mutanen Arewa insisted that this move by the Group Managing Director now presently accounts for the over one million barrels per day appropriations as against the previously faltering numbers.

They assured the group managing Director that because he is on the side of God, all the emerging threats against him will come to nothing and the culprits involved in this smokescreen scamper to hold to any straw would soon be exposed.