TOMPOLO: Ex-MEND Commander, Kpenfe pleads with President Tinubu to renew Tantita’s pipeline surveillance contract
By Loveth Ojogun
Former commander of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, Chief Micah Kpenfe, has urged President Bola Tinubu to renew the pipeline surveillance contract of Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited, the security outfit of renowned Niger Delta freedom fighter, High Chief Government Ekpemupolo aka Tompolo.
GbaramatuVoice recalled that former President, Muhammadu Buhari in August 2022 awarded the pipeline surveillance contract reportedly worth N48 billion per year (N4 billion per month) to High Chief Ekpemupolo’s company to check massive oil theft in the Niger-Delta region.
Despite the controversy that trailed the contract, the company has reportedly discovered several illegal connections into major pipelines in the region.
Speaking on the need for the new administration of President Tinubu to renew the contract, Chief Kpenfe in a statement issued to the press on Tuesday stated that the efforts of the security outfit has done a lot in the lives of the people and also provided “greener environment”.
According to him, before Tantita came into the picture, various health issues plaque the rural communities because of the intake of bad air in the system, as a result of the Kpofire, pipeline vandalism and bunker.
Chief Micah also stated that the fishermen can testify to the good deeds of the security outfit as they can now get fishes from the river. This was not so before due to the effect of bunkering in the river.
He said: “Before now if you go to Niger Delta river, you will see black oil everywhere, when you put on white clothes it turns to black before you get to your destination, the air we breath in suffocate us, rainfall black soots, before the immediate pass administration awarded this contract to Tantita Security, they have worked alot which the federal government and the whole of Niger Delta knows.
“When Tantita started mobilization everywhere became calm, the water became normal and life turns back to normal again after a long time, we now drink from rain water which we have not done for a long time as a result of kpofire, everything became normal when Tantita come on board.”
Chief Micah asserted that aside the environmental factor, there is a general calmness in the Niger-Delta because of Tantita and as such, the contract should be renewed.
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