Chief Government Ekpemukpolo, aka Tompolo on Friday said he has begun eradication of illegal oil theft from the Niger Delta as part of the oil pipeline security contract. Represented by the Managing Director of his Company, Tantita Security Services Limited, Chief Keston Ebikabowei Pondi, he revealed this during a major operation at the Trans Escravos pipeline to close up 16 illegal points discovered. Addressing journalists during the operation on Friday, Pondi revealed that within six weeks of its operation, his personnel have discovered 16 tapping points on the Trans Escravos Pipeline on different locations.

He said; “From the look of things, this has been going on for a very long time. To get to this level is not easy. It needs a lot of effort and intelligence. From all indications, SPDC is not expected to own up in a situation like this. We were hinted on the two illegal attachments that were foiled. We are still escalating. We are combining this line up from Ogidigben to Madaho. ‘‘This particular one inspected by the NNPC CEO team is located at Yokre Flow Station. ‘‘Only God knows how many more points we are going to see as we go further. As at this moment, we have discovered 15 points so far.

The identified 15 points were attached to the Trans Escravos pipeline at different locations. ‘‘It is obvious that a lot of people are complicit in these illegal oil activities. Whether it is in the security sector, host communities, even in the oil industry, if you know that you have been involved and nobody is doing anything about it, this is the time to evacuate. If you do not stop, the laws that are protecting the oil industry will come very strongly on you. Those involved are not unlikely to fight back. But we are not too scared of our people. We are more scared of people with guns that are involved in these activities than people without guns.

We are more scared of the GSAs that are accomplices in this, and the oil multinationals than we are scared of our people. Earlier, the Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, expressed joy in the operations of NNPC, saying that “This is an eye opener and I am glad that I have come here and seen with the Group CEO of NNPC Ltd. We are going to ensure an expensive investigation into the whole revelation to get to the roots with a view to reviewing the entire security architecture across board, among other issues”. On his part; the NNPC GMD, Mele Kolo Kyari, also revealed that the illegal attachments on the Trans Escravos pipeline is professionally done, noting that the illegal refiners connected this to an inactive pipeline which should not carry crude in a normal instance. (Saturday Telegraph)