Operatives, Allegedly Connected With Tompolo’s Security Company, TANTITA, Arrested For Crude Oil Theft

<h4>Operatives<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> has reliably gathered that the Nigerian Navy has reportedly thwarted an attempted oil theft operation in Lekki Waters and apprehended four individuals connected to TANTITA Security Service&comma; a company owned by former Niger Delta militant leader Government Ekpemupolo&comma; also known as Tompolo&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The operation was disrupted following a distress call from residents in the Itolu community&comma; Lekki&comma; who reported gunshots from the waterside&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Commodore Kolawole Oguntuga&comma; the Commander of NNS Beecroft&comma; disclosed during a press conference that the suspects were arrested while attempting to steal a boat engine from a local resident&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He further explained the sequence of events&comma; saying that on August 29&comma; 2023&comma; the Nigerian Navy received a distress call regarding gunshots near the Itolu community in Lagos State&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Naval patrol teams swiftly responded to the distress call and encountered four individuals dressed in black polo shirts with &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;TANTITA” inscribed on the back&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The suspects were trying to retrieve a dismantled outboard engine from a local resident&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>After arresting the individuals&comma; the naval patrol team discovered that they were part of a larger operation involving a wooden boat and two fiber boats&period; The larger wooden boat was found to be carrying 11 x 1000L Geepee tanks suspected to contain stolen crude oil&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The arrested individuals are identified as Asonja Goddey &lpar;28&rpar;&comma; Obajimi Oluwaseyifunmi &lpar;38&rpar;&comma; Awoowo Aribo &lpar;35&rpar;&comma; and Oluwadaisi Balogun &lpar;40&rpar;&comma; all from Igbokoda in Ondo State&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The owner of the boat they attempted to use&comma; Ishola Ojubuyi &lpar;42&rpar;&comma; was also taken into custody&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Nigerian Navy has initiated an investigation into the incident to determine various aspects&comma; including the source of firearms used in the community&comma; potential economic sabotage&comma; the origin of the product &lpar;suspected stolen crude oil&rpar;&comma; and the attempted theft of the boat engine from locals&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;ejesgist&period;ng&sol;">Additionally&comma; Oguntuga mentioned that a TANTITA staff member&comma; Mr&period; Owoyele Omotuyi&comma; arrived to secure the release of the four apprehended individuals&comma; claiming they were TANTITA employees&period;<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>All suspects and confiscated exhibits will be handed over to appropriate agencies for further necessary action and prosecution&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Meanwhile&comma; the Ondo State Coordinator of TANTITA Security Service&comma; Idowu Asonja&comma; in a press statement&comma; alleged that their men were after the real culprits who owned the wooden boat laden with crude products&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Asonja also alleged that the NAVY was paid to guide the vessel&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He said&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;It is a pathetic and worrisome moment in the western corridor of the Niger Delta states as Nigerian Navy officers arrested four of the Tantita security guards in Ondo&sol;Ogun Zone after the Tantita guards successfully apprehended a wooden vessel fully loaded with crude oil&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;This afternoon&comma; it happens that the Navy security initially were parading a wooden vessel loaded with crude oil&comma; after a while&comma; they released the vessel which was fully loaded with crude oil by some oil thieves&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Meanwhile&comma; the Tantita security guards were monitoring the matter and later bombarded the vessel after discovering that the Navy officers were paid to guide the vessel&period; This notorious act&sol;display by the Navy officers provoked the Tantita guards in the area to pursue the vessel&comma; which they later succeeded in arresting&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;To our greatest surprise&comma; the owners of the vessel ran away and came back to the scene with some Nigerian Navy officers working at the Dangote Refinery&comma; which resulted in a conflict and finally&comma; the Navy officers attacked my men&comma; later arrested four of the Tantita security guards from Ondo zone&comma; and set free the wooden vessel&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Federal Government on August 22&comma; 2022&comma; awarded the contract of protecting oil pipelines to TANTITA Security Service&comma; but there has been controversy over the contract with Nigerians disagreeing on whether it should be revoked or not&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;16030" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-16030" style&equals;"width&colon; 300px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><img class&equals;"size-medium wp-image-16030" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2022&sol;08&sol;President-Muhammadu-Buhari--300x168&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Operatives&comma; Allegedly Connected With Tompolo’s Security Company&comma; TANTITA&comma; Arrested For Crude Oil Theft" width&equals;"300" height&equals;"168" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-16030" class&equals;"wp-caption-text"><em><strong>Former President Buhari awarded the pipeline security contract to Tompolo<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;