Joe Ogini
In a fresh rift over crude oil theft between the Nigerian Navy and the private security outfit, Tantita Security Limited owed by the former leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta, MEND, High Chief Government Oweizide Ekpemupolo, aka Tompolo, has taken a new dimension as both parties accuse each other of blackmail and harassment in the course of carrying out their duties.
In a statement issued on Friday, September 1, 2023, and titled: The Arrest of Tantita Operatives and Parade By the Nigerian Navy- A Tragicomedy of Errors, Tantita denied any claims that its men were ever involved in crude oil theft as alleged by the Nigerian Navy.
This is in response to the story credited to the Commander, NNS, BEECROFT of the Nigerian Navy, Commander Kolawole Olumide Oguntuga, that the Nigeria Navy arrested four Tantita personnel for alleged crude oil theft. The Navy claimed to have been responding to distress calls from youths in Itolou. At which they immediately launched a response operation, and encountered four individuals dressed in black polo shirts with ‘Tantita’ inscribed on the back, trying to recover a dismantled outboard engine from a local. The Nigerian Navy immediately recovered the engine and apprehended the men.
But in a swift response to the allegation, Tantita issued a counter statement describing the earlier statement by the Nigerian Navy as nothing but a smear campaign, intended only to tarnish their image, and possibly to cover up their own misdeeds.
Tantita described the five men arrested by the men of the Nigerian Navy as brave, selfless and gallant Nigerians who risked their lives on the high seas to secure the country’s common wealth, pointing out that it is a gross disservice to the nation.
The Navy is a constitutional institution mandated to keep Nigeria’s seaward borders safe from invasion and criminality.