The Coalition of Urhobo-Isoko Concerned Leaders, CUICL, has called on the Federal government, through the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited, NNPCL, to immediately withdraw the security surveillance contract awarded to Zane Energy Limited, which is currently managing the security of oil facilities in Isoko and Urhoboland.
According to the leaders, Ochuko Obrikogho and Zino Omoba from Urhobo and Isoko, respectively, the Coalition, in a statement over the weekend, called on the All Progressives Congress, APC-led federal government to heed the call from concerned leaders from the two ethnic groups to forestall a regrettable situation.
The group noted that the contract awarded to Zane Energy Limited, owned and managed by Jimi Omo-Agege, a younger brother to the former Deputy President of the Senate, Ovie Omo-Agege, was done in bad faith, adding that the Mele Kyari-led NNPCL did not consult the people before the contract was awarded adding to the fact that Omo-Agege is a politician who allegedly hijacked the contract using his office as a Senator for his younger brother who has been paid several months without any visible operations on ground.
The Coalition noted that irrespective of the humongous sum being paid to Omo-Agege, oil theft has been festering unabated in his supposed operational areas due to the security contractor’s gross dereliction of service and lackadaisical attitudes.
In Isoko, the group noted that oil thieves have turned it into a free market for wheelers and dealers in stolen petroleum products. Community youths and buyers of stolen petroleum products have taken over the entire geographical space and called the shots without any visible resistance, hence the call for withdrawing that contract.
The group added that the same thing happens in Urhoboland, where Zane Energy is supposed to tighten the noose around oil thieves. Instead, they have all been compromised due to the absence of security in the facilities.
“Rather than engaging and equipping the youths to secure the pipelines with the vast sum being paid by the FG to secure pipelines, Omo-Agege is building one of the largest tank farms in the River States from the proceeds of the undeserved millions being received monthly from the NNPCL for a job not done.
“How does one explain the fact that a businessman is awarded the security contract instead of ex-agitators who know the terrain and even those who engage in the illicit business of oil theft? They vandalize pipelines and scoop products, and trucks are loaded from these spots daily with zero challenge from those who are paid to secure them.
“With keen interest, our Coalition has watched the activities of criminals in our domain but concluded that the engagement of Zane Energy by the FG is a wasted venture. Omo-Agege is a politically exposed person who shouldn’t have been awarded that contract in the first place but for the reason of undermining security and perhaps building a political war chest for the former Senator, Kyari’s NNPCL awarded him the contract.” The Coalition stated.
According to the Coalition, it is no longer news that Omo-Agege is only interested in the multi-million contract job for selfish reasons. To clear Nigerians’ doubts, the group challenged Omo-Agege to present his monthly payment voucher to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, as proof that he engaged Urhobo and Isoko youths in the surveillance job or youths of any other tribe.
The group wondered why the Federal Government, which was supposed to use the contract as a handle for job creation for the youths and persons of both tribes, decided to hand it over to a man who is generally greedy and self-centered. Omo-Agege is a contractor who spent his eight years in the Senate hijacking contracts that ordinarily should have been awarded to the people on the lower rung of the ladder, at least to raise the people’s living standard.
The statement named some Federal Government contracts hijacked by Omo-Agege, including the Sapele – Amokpe – Obiaruku – Abor road construction contract; the Federal Polytechnic Orogun, the Navy facility situated in the same Orogun environment; the pipelines surveillance contract wherein the lawmaker is said to be constituting a clog in the wheel of progress among many others adding that the former Senator was a curse to the people of Urhoboland and its environs while he held sway.
The group noted that Omo-Agege has never delivered any of the contracts he allegedly cornered to himself by proxy but has been paid hundreds of millions unreservedly.
Omo-Agege was not the only lawmaker who saw the pipeline surveillance contract, but others allowed reasons to prevail which was why contracts were awarded to indigenous ex-militants in other parts of the Niger Delta region NNPCL and Omo-Agege had the gut to award the Urhobo Isoko corridor of the pipelines security surveillance job to themselves.
The National Security Adviser to the President, NSA Mallam Nuhu Ribadu; the Yusuf Bichi-led Department of State Security Services, DSS; the Nigerian Intelligence Agency, NIA; the Defence Headquarters; the Nigeria Police Force and other armed enforcement agencies should call Kyari to order to immediately withdraw the ill-motivated contract and award same to ex-militants and persons from Isoko and Urhobo land and that includes the leadership of “our Coalition.”
The contract is enough to assuage the hard feelings of the people in that area, as opposed to awarding it to a money hoarder who sees himself as the alpha and omega.
It is conceivable to accept that Kyari made a correctable error in the award of that contract to Omo-Agege; the group said it is willing to work with the NNPCL through Tantita Security Services Nig LTD, TSSNL to ensure the right thing is done and at the right time.
“As Omo-Agege vainfully prepares for the 2027 gubernatorial contest, the meaning is that NNPCL would be funding his campaign preparation unwittingly at the detriment of the larger population. The NNPCL management should be told by the FG in clear terms to immediately revoke that contract, and now is the time.” The visibly livid Coalition stated that there could be dire consequences if the government refuses to act.
