Group Accuses Eyesan, Ajiya of Sponsoring Media War Against Mele Kyari

The Niger Delta Stakeholders Assembly (NDSA), on Saturday called on the Inspector General of Police, Mr Kayode Egbetokun to interrogate Anabs Sara-Igbe over threat to cause crisis in the oil rich Niger Delta Region, just as they said that he was being used by the Executive Vice President, Upstream, NNPCL, Mrs Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan and Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Mr Umar Ajiya to wage media war against the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Engineer Mele Kyari.

The group in a Press Release signed by Akpoebi Awoalaye-Ofori (President) and Anetorufa Gabriel (Secretary) linked the vituperations of Sara-Igbe against Kyari Mele to Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan and Umar Ajiya.

According to the group; “We read the recent misadventure by a meddlesome interloper, rabble-rouser and notorious gold digger in the Niger Delta, one Anabs Sara-Igbe, in the media. The serial paid destabilisation agent is a self-acclaimed national coordinator of an amorphous group, South/South Elder’s Forum. Findings by us have revealed that he is the founder and only member of the group, purely put together by him to extort and blackmail the gullible public”.

“With no visible means of livelihood, Sara-Igbe transversed the political landscape as a ready tool and machinery for any hatchet job. A discredited individual and political turncoat who can be railroaded for any mischief with a plate of porridge. It’s of public knowledge in the Niger Delta that Sara-Igbe can take up any assignment to discredit anyone so far the price is right. That is how he survives. A legendary blackmailer. His latest victim is the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Engineer Mele Kyari”, the group added.

They said that; “In his latest sponsored media outreach, Sara-Igbe in usual uncouth manners, poured venom on and unjustiably maligned the hard-earned reputation of Mele Kyari, in desperation to satisfy the interests of his paymasters. In dabbling into an unfamiliar terrain, Sara-Igbe in his media appearances, displayed crass ignorance and dished out arrant nonsense. He was not properly tutored by his sponsors before he was hurriedly packaged into television studios. Otherwise, how does any rationale being explain the accusation he levelled against Mele Kyari that Warri and Port Harcourt Refineries were operating optimally before they were shut down for routine maintenance by Mele Kyari ? Well-informed industry operators are familiar with the agelong mandatory norms of three-to-five years turn around cycle for a refinery”.

They also wrote that; “This means that in every three, four or five years, a facility will undergo extensive routine maintenance. Even before Mele Kyari well thought out action, Warri and Port Harcourt refineries were long overdue for the periodical overhauling of their component units, a development which paved the way for perennial breakdown and attendant epileptic operations. Moreso, Sara-Igbe and his co-travellers ought to know that the typical period for a turn-around is one or two years or more.
The question is: What crime has Mele Kyari committed for adhering to this mandatory practice? Is it that Sara-Igbe and his cohorts expected the refineries to knock down completely before the Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) is ordered”.

Describing Sara-Igbe as a dishonest individual and a pathological liar, the group said; “These character traits enabled him to become an easy tool for any dirty job. To further destroy Mele Kyari in the public psyche, Sara-Igbe accused the NNPCL’s GCEO of misleading President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on the removal of subsidy on petroleum products. This is terrible. It shows that Sara-Igbe requires urgent medical attention. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu left no one in doubt during his election campaigns and electioneering exercises over his position on subsidy on petroleum products. President Tinubu and indeed all other presidential candidates, were unequivocal ahead of the 2023 elections, over their readiness and preparedness to remove subsidy on Petroleum products, if elected president. President Tinubu, apparently to drive home this conviction, announced the removal of the subsidy in his inaugural speech on May 29th, 2023. From the foregoing, does it appear that Mr. President requires an advice from Mele Kyari on the issue of subsidy? It’s only an insane that would, therefore, accuse Mele Kyari of not properly advising President Tinubu on the way to go on the contentious issue”.

“To Sara-Igbe, Mele Kyari is solely responsible for and be held accountable for every problem hampering optimal performance and service delivery by NNPCL. One would have expected him to muster courage by calling on his principals and sponsors in the like of the Executive Vice President, Upstream, NNPCL, Mrs. Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan and Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Mr. Umar Ajiya, to quit since they have lost the momentum to function as senior members of the company’s management team”, they stated.

The group disclosed that; “Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan and Umar Ajiya are behind the tension and panic in NNPCL. They are the one sponsoring Sara-Igbe and other notorious elements to pull down the roof because of their inordinate ambition to unseat Mele Kyari as NNPCL’s GCEO.They are deliberately creating crisis valves within the system in order to pull down the roof.Who is the most senior Niger Deltan in the management cadre of NNPCL Sara-Igbe chorused copiously in his media interviews? Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan is the person”.

The group added that those behind the moves to get rid of Mele Kyari because they are hunted by his patriotic zeal and commitment to deliver on the RENEWED HOPE AGENDA of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, are working on two permutations, saying; “They are favouring Umar Ajiya from the North and Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan from the Niger Delta, to unseat Mele Kyari. Who appointed Sara-Igbe as
spokesman of the Niger Delta? At what forum was a decision reached in the entire Niger Delta that Mele Kyari must be eased out by January, 2025 or hell would be let loose in the region. The decision must have been reached way back at the forum of the so-called South/South Elder’s Forum, where Sara-Igbe is the sole administrator. Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan and Umar Ajiya must have sponsored his meeting to come up with a one- man squad communique threatening mayhem in the Niger Delta in the event that President Tinubu preserved Mele Kyari in office beyond January, 2025″.

They wrote; “The Niger Delta Stakeholders Assembly (NDSA) make bold to state unequivocally here that no forum was held in any part of the region where a threat was issued to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to sack Mele Kyari or face mayhem in the Niger Delta. The purported meeting of South/South Elder’s Forum and its outcome only existed in the heads of Sara-Igbe and his co-travellers in the person of Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan and Umar Ajiya, who are desperate to succeed their boss”.

The group seized the medium to pass a vote of implicit confidence on Engineer Mele Kyari as Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited; “And we make bold to assert here that his transformative initiatives and reforms have restored sanity in the handling of affairs in the business conglomerate. It’s no longer business as usual with Mele Kyari at the helm of affairs. Mele Kyari has turned the heat on the corrupt and inept in the system and they are fighting back by deploying Sara-Igbe and other charlatans on senseless mission to discredit Mele Kyari in the public space. The agenda is dead on arrival. Right thinking Niger Deltans and indeed Nigerians, cannot be fooled”.

While concluding, they called on the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Kayode Egbetokun, to summon Sara-Igbe for interrogation over his threat to instigate crisis of unprecedented dimension in the Niger Delta in the event that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu preserved Mele Kyari in office beyond January, 2025.

“This threat is weighty. It cannot be ignored in view of the prevailing palpable insecurity in the country. We should avoid any action capable of truncating the prevail fragile peace in the Niger Delta”, they added.