Pipeline Surveillance: You Are A Tribal Bigot, Niger Delta Group Tells Eyesan

The controversy over the termination of the $3.9M monthly contract of the company owned by the Olu of Warri, Ogiame Atuwatse III, Pipelines Infrastructures Nigeria Limited (PINL) has continued to linger as Niger Delta Stakeholders Forum (NDSF) once again accused the Itsekiri monarch and the management of PINL of being dishonest.

According to the group, for the Itsekiri monarch and PINL to be honest, they have to lay bare the circumstances, which led to the termination of their non-performing Trans-forcados pipeline contract in the public domain

NDSF, in a statement issued on Friday, lambasted a group fronting for the Itsekiri monarch and his company, Itsekiri Pipelines Surveillance Stakeholders (IPSS), of being ingrorant of the facts of the matter “they were hired and paid by the Olu and his company to defend.”

The NDSF in the statement signed by its leader, Chief Julius Daukoru, also described as “laughable” the call by the Itsekiri fictitious group asking NNPCL’s management to provide explanations for the termination of the surveillance job of the Trans-forcados pipelines hitherto handled by the Itsekiri monarch.

The NDSF insisted that the management of NNPCL neither owed the Olu and his company nor the “renegade group” any explanation over the termination of the non-performing contract.

NDSF, which promised to issue another detailed statement soon, said the group led by “one Collins Oritsemeyin Edema, merely demonstrated arrant ignorance and gullibility at the media briefing over the controversy generated by the termination of the Olu of Warri contract recently in Warri.”

The NDSF said “those handpicked as members of the hurriedly formed and non-existent fictitious group were either paid for the hatchet job or merely showing gratitude to the Olu of Warri for previous help and favours rendered to them by the Itsekiri monarch, such as in the case of Collins Edema, who was appointed as self-serving Olu of Warri liason to NNPCL.”

Daukoru said the task expected of the Olu of Warri and his company was simple, which “is to come up with facts and figures of their performances in the handling of the Trans-forcados pipeline surveillance job.”

“But instead of doing what is right, they decided to hire idle hands and surrogates for naming calling and giving of spurious excuses. “

“Otherwise, how do you explain the attempts by the imaginary Itsekiri Pipelines Surveillance Stakeholders to blackmail the NNPCL that the Trans-forcados pipelines are located on Omadino Land, under the overlordship of the Olu of Warri?”

“By implication, they are saying that the overlordship of the Olu has made it compelling for the NNPCL to sustain a non-performing contract to the Olu of Warri and his company?”

“The Itsekiri Stakeholders also need to answer another question to which, does the Olu of Warri have overlordship over the various communities in Rivers, Imo, Abia and part of Bayelsa where his PINL is currently handling pipeline surveillance jobs for NNPCL? Are there no monarchs, with overlordship authorities in those areas?”

“Why is the Olu of Warri operating outside his domains when it becomes an issue when Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited (TSSNL) and other companies are awarded jobs in Omadino? Even the claims of ownershipby the Itsekiri to these areas are spurious and at variance with historical facts.”

“We expect the Olu and some of his subjects, sympathetic to him to come out clean by admitting that the PINL failed to do the right thing in the handling of the $3.9M monthly job awarded to it instead of blackmailing and intimidating the management of NNPCL.”

“Let the management of PINL come out openly with facts and figures to defend the company. Was the Trans-forcados pipeline being incessantly damaged or not under the watch of the company, the developmmey which made it compelling for the contract to be terminated?

“Is it justifiable for the NNPCL to sustain the award of the contract to PINL in the circumstances of continuous wreckage of the Trans-forcados pipelines by oil thieves as PINL appeared helpless and pocketing $3.9M monthly for doing nothing?

“Our Itsekiri brothers and sisters should not be brainwashed to see the decision of the NNPCL to terminate this non-performance contract as an affront against the Itsekiri ethnic nationality. Was the contact awarded to Itsekiri ethnic nationality in the first place or PINL by NNPCL?

It’s not a war against the Itsekiri nation but purely a business transaction in which someone has to justify why he should continue to pocket a whooping sum of $3.9M monthly for doing nothing.”

“So anyone trying to defend this failure should be abreast with the issues and not come to the public space as ethnic bigots.”

“How many Itsekiri even knew about the existence of $3.9M monthly contract awarded to PINL in over 2 years, talkless of feeling the impact of the award of such heavy contract?”

“Our Itsekiri brothers and sisters should borrow a leaf from the patriotic zeal and fervour demonstrated by a prominent Itsekiri leader, Mr. Godwin Ebosa, who came out boldly to state that Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited has been doing a fantastic job and warned that no Itsekiri man should lose sleep over the fate of the Olu of Warri because it was a case of business transaction turned sour.”

“So, why would any sane person demand an explanation from the NNPCL for the termination of a non-performing contract? Are they saying that NNPCL cannot hire and fire? Does the NNPCL requires the approval of anyone before terminating a non-performing contract?

“We know from the reliable authorities from NNPCL that the Trans-forcados contract of PINL would have been terminated long time ago if not for the intervention of the Vice President, Upstream, NNPCL, Mrs. Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, who is playing ethnic cards with her job, by supporting PINL to retain the job for wrong reasons.”

“Even the Olu and management of PINL derive their effontery to challenge the NNPCL to provide explanations over the termination of the contracts from the encouragement being received from Mrs. Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan. She is using her office to give backing to the Itsekiri monarch in sustaining non-performing contracts.”

“It’s high time that Mrs. Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan is made to be conscious of the fact that she was not appointed into the NNPCL board to serve the narrow ethnic interests of her Itsekiri kits and kins. She is in the NNPCL’s board to serve the general national interest.”

“If she falls to realise this and continue to exhibit parochial ethnic interest, we will not hesitate to demand for her removal,” the statement by Daukoru added.