HE common notion about the Niger-Delta is that the place is a threat to multinational oil companies, particularly their foreign oil workers and other foreign investors over the fear-provoking activities of militants, ransom-demanding hostage takers and sea pirates operating on the waterways in the creeks of the region.

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bunkering activities, illegal crude oil refineries oncoverd by JTF
What however is unknown to many and very sadly too, is that crude oil thieves have turned their fellow Nigerians, that is, innocent villagers residing in the various communities where they carry out oil bunkering and illegal refining of crude oil into captives or hostages.

Investigations by Saturday Vanguard showed that the villagers in the communities where the crude oil thieves do oil bunkering are now living with their hearts in their mouths, as oil bunkerers, armed with sophisticated weapons have warned that they would kill any of them that dares to expose their identities and locations to the security agents.

An innocent Deltan was recently shot dead on the Benin River by suspected oil bunkerers on the suspicion that he was giving information to the Joint Task Force (JTF) on the Niger-Delta on their criminal activities.

A youth leader in one of the bunkering communities in Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State, Futek Zikoregha was practically chased out of his Forcados community by crude oil thieves when he threatened to expose them. He is at present living in exile.

Commander of the JTF, in-charge of Delta and Bayelsa states, Brigadier-General Nanven Wuyep Rimtip was discernibly disturbed when he spoke to Saturday Vanguard, early this month, in his office at the David Ejoor Barracks, Effurun in Delta State on the escapades of crude oil thieves in the state, uncovering and demolition of a record number of 111 illegal crude oil refineries at Tuomo community in Delta State.

At a stage, Brigadier-General Rimtip could not conceal his feelings any more and he voiced it out, “Are you aware that innocent villagers in the creeks are now being held hostage by oil bunkerers who threaten that they would deal with them if they expose their bunkering activities to security agents? So, tell me, what are they are turning their agitation into if they terrorize their own people and make life difficult for them. Who are they fighting for?”

Ordinarily, Brigadier-General Rimtip’s brief is to smoke out criminals troubling and disrupting oil operations and installations in the waterways of the two states and ensure that the law takes care of them. But as somebody who sees the problem and sufferings the creek dwellers were going through in the hands of crude oil bandits, he is concerned on how the people would be delivered from the bondage.

Communities are under siege –– IYC

Initially, it was just a case of the oil bunkerers paying what is called “protection” fee of between N5,000 to N10,000 per night to some communities to look the other way while they brought in their barges and steal crude oil from oil pipelines in their area but it had now graduated to the bunkerers setting up illegal refineries in some of the communities to refine the products themselves with armed men to terrorize any villager that dares to raise an eyebrow.

National chairman of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Dr. Chris Ekiyor in a statement, condemning the recent military attack on Agge community in Bayelsa State confirmed that the communities were under siege by armed groups and the people should, therefore, not be turned to scapegoats by the JTF for the excesses of militants.

His words: “The IYC has always criticized the excessive use of force by the JTF as far as finding solution to the crisis in the Niger-Delta is concerned. We strongly condemn the act of genocide and annihilation which the JTF has continued to inflict on peaceful Ijaw communities at the slightest provocation by insurgent arm groups within the Niger-Delta who may necessarily not be Ijaws. We in the IYC have looked into the detail of the attack on the military gun boats in Bomadi and cannot correlate it with the sacking and burning of Agge community.

“Usually these communities are under siege by militants and they leave in share helplessness while the security agents watch, and the JTF, rather than improve on its internal security and find the armed groups, attack these innocent villagers.

“The first thing they do as their own means of over-powering such insurgence is to burn down the nearest peaceful community in a reprisal attack, kill children and women. This is not an acceptable method of war; the JTF should respect the rules of engagement, the Geneva Convention and the Nigerian Constitution when dealing with the civilian population.”

Militants, military hold people to ransom

“Agge today is suffering a double jeopardy from militants and military alike. In as much as peace is the goal we desire, the road to peace is peace.

“We, however, condemn any group within the region that has refused to respect the ceasefire initiative of the Council’s high command. As Ijaw youths, all we seek is justice, equal rights and resource control in a true federalist state of Nigeria,” he asserted.

“Mr. President must truly consider a fast means of tackling the Niger-Delta before it tears us apart. The Ijaws can no longer continue to leave like a conquered people within our great country, Nigeria,” he added.

Inhabitants are complaining –– JTF boss

Brigadier-General Rimtip confirmed that some of the affected communities were complaining about theImage way they were being intimidated by the bunkerers who are armed to the teeth.

He said his pain is that innocent people were being held hostage and that those arming the gunmen were using the children of other people to commit atrocities while their children were safe elsewhere.

“If truly these people have the love of their people in their minds as they are proclaiming, they should have stopped all these things, knowing the harm it is causing to their people,” he said.

He tasked Niger-Delta leaders to speak up on the matter and dissuade their youths from the unwholesome act because of the negative effect on the people, saying he was surprised that it was only when the JTF attack militants that some of the elders condemn the task force, but, when the militants or bunkerers, as the case may be, attack our location, all of them keep quiet.

Tuomo, new headquarters of bunkering in Delta Investigations showed that oil bunkering is a booming business in the state. Not too long ago, an illegal crude oil refinery exploded in the state, injuring a woman and her baby. The poor mother was working for the oil bunkerers in the illegal refinery when it exploded.

Until Tuomo community beat the record recently with a whopping number of 111 illegal refineries discovered by the JTF, the headquarters of bunkering in the state use to be in the Forcados area. Some military men and civilians were mutually involved in the business for many years but Brigadier-General Rimtip who had received some overtures from the bunkerers and threat to his life for refusing to play ball with them, has reduced the participation of military personnel in bunkering since he assumed office.

A senior JTF office told Saturday Vanguard, “He is waiting to show example with any soldier that will be caught aiding or abetting oil bunkering.”

Before Forcados, there was Coconut village, which used to be the most notorious. Some years ago, 2003 to be precise, after some top Army and Navy officers allegedly collected about N12 million from bunkerers operating in the village without extending the largesse to their men in the field, some personnel went with a naval patrol boat, named AGURA to stop the bunkerers, but, they were overpowered by the criminals, who tied them up with the intent to kill them and whisked to their den in the creek.

They were later released through the intervention of Ijaw leaders, among them, Chief Wellington Okirika, who is now the chairman of the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC), Chief Samson Mamamu and Chief Tunde Smooth. The Central Loading Point (CLP) at the back of the Warri Refinery and Petrochemicals Company (WRPC), Warri is said to be another bunkering lucrative point for bunkerers and their military accomplices.

Huge business for security agents

A one-time commanding officer of the NNS, Delta was said to be fronting for a former Naval chief in Abuja who was allegedly receiving up to N75 million monthly from bunkerers. A vessel reportedly belonging to the said ex-naval chief, which was conveying 45,000 metric tones of crude oil was said to have been impounded by the Army and detained in the Forcados waterways.

A reliable source said posting to the creek communities where oil bunkering was going on was a juicy beat for the military men until Rimtip came to the JTF. “They are making quick money, building houses, riding flashy cars and acquiring property all over the cities from the illicit money. Men of the JTF lobby to be posted to the parts of the region where oil bunkering is going on.

Because of the returns and anybody that stood in the way of the syndicate is usually marked for elimination,” he said.

It was gathered that security agents get as much as N400,000 on each barge, filled with crude, which they allow to pass their area of supervision while the bunkerers pay some of the communities a miserly N5,000- N10,000 on regular basis as protection fee and on their own part, they sell a barge of crude for between N8 million to N10 million. The buyers of the crude are top Nigerians who also have international allies.

Saturday Vanguard learnt that as soon as the JTF Commander secured the support of the Delta State governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan to go all out for the crude oil thieves, he went all out burrow into the creeks in search of the sea bandits send jitters down their spines as no JTF Commander has been so uncompromising as Brigadier-General Rimtip.

Battle of wit with crude oil vandals Rimtip told Saturday Vanguard that after carrying out his preliminary research on the modus operandi of the bunkerers, he blocked the major entrance to the open sea and expected that crude oil theft would stop in the state after a few days. “To my chagrin, it kept going on though at a lower rate this time around,” he said.

The JTF boss asserted that the oil bunkerers temporarily shifted to land transportation when they saw the heat on the waterways but he found out that the quantity passing the land route does not correspond to the quantity that was being stolen, adding, “I had to go back to the drawing board.”

He said he was struck about one particular spot in Burtutu/Bomadi axis during his normal surveillance operations, which was always highly polluted with oil on a daily basis, pointing out, “Even when other areas get cleaner, this particular place remains continually polluted and that attracted my attention.”

He said he started fresh investigation and got to know that crude oil thieves were refining crude oil in that area in illegal refineries set up by them.

The JTF later sent spies to the area to get involved in the business and get more information. Rimtip said he was alarmed at the rate the pollution was spreading fast to adjoining communities, killing the aquatic life of the people while the crude oil thieves smile to the banks at the expense of the people.
Saturday Vanguard learnt that when the crude oil vandals suspected that the JTF was monitoring them, they relocated but still continued the business at hidden places in the communities.

He stated that almost all the creek communities in the state where there is oil were involved in the crude oil refining business but Tuomo is the headquarters and it was after he had gathered enough information that he decided to strike.

Raid

Rimtip said it was not tactical for him to disclose how his troops gained access to the community but the fact was that they gained access. “We don’t have enough logistics but we managed to,” he confessed. He said the bunkerers use the Benin River, Ramos River, Escravos and Forcados as their bunkering routes. The task force has put security checks in those areas to make movement difficult for them.

How illegal crude refining is carried out

Those who understand the process said it is just like the way they brew “Ogogoro”, local hot liquor and in the words of the JTF boss, “They use metal drums, they call it cooking and they keep boiling the crude oil. From there, they are able to separate kerosene, diesel and petrol.”

A source explained, “What they do is that they put, let us say a drum of crude on fire and they keep boiling it the way you cook your normal food. At a stage due to the heat it has been subjected to, the products will separate themselves, there is a pipe through which water is removed as they cook the crude.”

Pact with petrol dealers

It was gathered that some petrol dealers in town were working hand in gloves with the crude oil thieves and they buy the locally refined petrol from them at very cheap rate. “This,” explained a source “is responsible for the bad fuel you get at times from some filling stations and roadside petrol hawkers, which damage the engine of vehicles.

“The dealers patronize them because their product is quite cheap and they can make 10 times the money they would have made if the product was lifted from the NNPC depot,” he added.

A petrol marketer who was contacted by Saturday Vanguard debunked the allegation, saying, “Nobody will open his eyes and buy petrol that is bad because it will affect his business. Don’t mind them, it is just rumour.”

The Directorate of Petroleum Resources (DPR) in Warri had shut down some petrol stations for selling bad fuel in the past but investigations have not really narrowed the supplies to a known crude oil thief.

Revenge!

Few days after the unprecedented swoop on the illegal refineries, some gunmen attacked men of the JTF at their location in Bomadi area of Delta State, dispossessing them of two gunboats, which were later discovered. A claim that two soldiers were killed was refuted by the JTF.

Counter attack

Brigadier-General Rimtip told Saturday Vanguard categorically that the attack on his men was a fight back by the crude oil thieves and barely 24 hours later, had his troops stormed Agge community in Bayelsa State, where he said intelligence information revealed the attackers came from.

At the end of the day, the community said the JTF razed their village. It wrote the national leader of the Ijaw ethnic nationality and former Federal Commissioner for Information, Chief Edwin Clark on the attack and destruction by the JTF on the community.

Chief Clark was livid when he spoke to Saturday Vanguard in Port-Harcourt on the matter, saying the JTF was not ready for peace in the region, as it seizes every opportunity to provoke the people so that “war” would continue to guarantee their continued stay.

He said he had called the Commander of the JTF over the burning of Agge community by his men but the JTF boss simply said that he was in search of the weapons stolen by gunmen from the area.

A JTF source, nevertheless, explained that the gunmen opened fire on the soldiers when they stormed the community for a cordon and search operation and the men replied, but, because the villagers allegedly stored stolen petroleum products in their houses, the structures caught fire, adding, “It is not the fault of the JTF.”

Threat to my life

He explained that somebody called him on the phone and told him (Commander) that he was the cause of the troubles and that what had just happened was the beginning.

“He openly said that I blocked all the waterways and that he alone has up to 200 barges, asking me what do I expect him to do for survival if I close all the waterways,” he said. He said the man had been in the bunkering business for many years and told him point-blank that he had no other means of survival.

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i wonder if the dude is blind

He did it deliberately nw

Ok im sorry

You miss road

No be only road the guy miss, the guy jump bridge!

which bridge?

London bridge Na!

Who u dey Smug?

You won know!

But yes na

Okay Just hold on I will tell you all u need to know!