By Seyi Odewale

A former militant and leader of Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) Chief Government Ekpemupolo, also known as Tompolo, and security officials have uncovered 42 more tapping points by crude oil bunkers on the nation’s oil pipelines in Delta and Bayelsa states, bringing the total to 58, yesterday.

The breakthrough, according to Tompolo, came as bunkers, who are angry with him for exposing their unlawful business, in the past few weeks, sent threatening messages to him and the operatives of his outfit, Tantita Security Services Limited, (TSSL).

Tantita, last Thursday, seized a vessel suspected to belong to an oil syndicate, which came to load crude oil from an undisclosed location in Delta state.

However, Tompolo, while speaking to newsmen, at Oporoza, the traditional headquarters of Gbaramatu kingdom, Warri South-West Local Government Area of Delta State, dismissed the oil bunkers’ threat.

Last week, when the Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, and the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari, visited Delta State, Tantita reported the discovery of 16 tapping points on the trans-Forcados pipeline, which the NNPCL had clamped.

Tompolo said, “As of today (Sunday), we have discovered over 58 tapping points that oil bunkers have used in stealing crude oil from the nation’s pipelines in Delta and Bayelsa states.”

“In Delta, three major crude pipelines, including the trans-Escravos and Trans-Ramos lines have been tapped by oil bunkers.

“The tapping points that were traced on Friday were with the help of the Nigerian security, which was why inside the rain and everything, we could trace the lines.

“We are doing the work together with the security agents; we are only providing intelligence for the security to assist to do the work. Therefore, everybody, NNPCL, and security agencies are working together in a very good spirit now.

“Now, the military has helped us to discover and stop the people from doing illegal activities, so we are going to work together, and we do not want to go into details. The stealing had been going on for over eight to nine years,” he said.

On the threat messages to his boys, he asserted, “As for threat messages, that is normal, even this morning, they sent messages to me, but I think it is something we can handle.”

The ex-militant leader, who sounded optimistic they would soon curtail illegal oil bunkering, said, “With the way we are going now, we are getting cooperation from all the security agencies, both the ones in the state here and at the top. Therefore, by the grace of God, in no distant time, we will stop this largely.”

He said the company was not facing any major challenge, adding: “At a very point in time, we will always provide the intelligence and security people will come and do the work.”

On the barricading of creeks by oil bunkers with trees, he said: “That is the more reason we are involved, if we see any creek that is blocked with trees, we will bring in motor-saw people to cut it and we go inside.”

“Where the security people cannot even go, we will first go there and ask them to follow because we cannot do anything with the security people. In addition, with the way all of them are cooperating, we will achieve the desired result.

“The communities are not posing a problem, it is the bunkers that offer resistance but even at that, like what I said before, this is our area, we are doing everything to ensure that we reduce oil bunkering to the barest minimum because the aquatic life in our area is almost gone.

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“The crude oil that we recover from the creek, we are trying to get a barge where we will pump in the product, along the line, if any sink, we will not follow that because the terrain is bad. However, we will do everything within our power to stop further destruction and pollution,” he said.

Tompolo asserted, “There is no creek that anybody will pass in the region that I will not understand or the people working with me will not know. For now, we do not have any problem.”

Our major problem is the aquatic life of the people is gone and we are doing everything together with traditional rulers, security agencies, Department of State Services, DSS, and all that to ensure that we reduce it to the barest minimum so that our people can survive.

Admitting that pipeline surveillance “is stressful,” he said there was no problem with the communities, and he did not envisage that oil bunkers would not yield to his appeal to stop oil bunkering.

“Before this time, I have been discussing oil bunkers, whether from Rivers or Bayelsa, all over the place. Even many of them understand that oil bunkering is not a good thing for our environment.

“And that this the more reason we think there will not be much problem for us to stop it, but they complained that there are no other means of survival,” he said.

On the scarcity of kerosene, he said, “We are going to appeal to the Federal Government and NNPCL to see what they can do about the local refinery, but you cannot fight illegality with illegality.”