Tantita is having yet another faceoff with Ebenco Global Link Limited; a
waste management company, outraged with the host community, for allegedly interfering in Ebenco’s activities on grounds of suspected crude oil bunkering.
Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited, TSSNL, a pipeline surveillance company operated by an ex-militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, has been in the storm’s eye lately, over its commanding venture to expose oil bunkerers and syndicates in the Niger Delta.
Besides threats and attacks on Tantita from oil thieves, its dexterity has pushed the private security provider into a no–love–lost relationship with the Nigerian Navy, NN, which is the country’s lead agency in the battle against oil thieves.
Currently, Tantita is having yet another faceoff with Ebenco Global Link Limited; a
waste management company based in Koko, Warri North Local Government Area of Delta
State, outraged with the host community, for allegedly interfering in Ebenco’s activities on grounds of suspected crude oil bunkering.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Ebenco, Dr. Ebenezer
Oluwagbemiga, who spoke to Saturday Vanguard, swore that his company was not
involved in crude oil bunkering.
However, the Executive Director of Operations and Technical, TSSNL, Captain
Warredi Enisuoh, told Saturday Vanguard: “Tantita acts on intelligence as you may have realized, we took the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited there based on our intelligence. That area is where vessels are fond of going to steal crude oil from wellheads, and we have kept the area under surveillance for a long time.”
”The first question what is Ebenco certified to do? If they say that they turn sludge into diesel, where do you turn sludge into the quantity of diesel they deal with? Since they buy sludge, they should provide NNPCL with the required documents?
”If sludge was that profitable in turning into diesel which made him have such tank
farms, then you are a refinery already, Was that not what got the NNPCL angry? Because that was not what they licensed him to do; they licensed Ebenco to evacuate environmental waste, not oil.
“Before Tantita goes into any environment, what we check first is what they licensed you to do. What did NNPCL license him to do, NNPCL did not license him to produce diesel.
”A boat moved in there, we were watching the boat, and they export their processed
diesel. That boat brought product but the two of them contradicted each other. The captain said he brought the product to Ebenco, but Ebenco said they gave him the product. The same transaction with two different versions.
“Whatever it is, he must have given Ebenco his own, and Ebenco is giving him his own, so the transaction is like trade by barter, you give me this and I give you that.
“When we checked with NNPCL, it said it did not license Ebenco for that activity. If the person who they said licensed them told us they did not license him to do so, what do we do?
“If we let him go, they will say that we took a bribe”.
Tantita has no ill feelings towards Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA, NUPRC, NOSDRA, and other regulators, in a report dated August 18.
However, Dr. Oluwagbemiga told Saturday Vanguard: ”Tantita men came to my place, they came through the river and land, and their reason is that I am discharging crude oil
through a boat. This boat belongs to a friend of mind, and we give him diesel when he goes to supply foodstuff and water.”
“They came back after supply, saying there was a leakage. They were anchoring, and it
was not holding, so they had to remove the small diesel in it so that it would not affect it when they were welding. It was during the discharge of these 120 litres that Tantita came.
“They went to check the three boats in my jetty and got disappointed with the information they gave them, but instead of them to go back, what they did was arrest anybody that they saw around there. They arrested about 35 persons, putting them in handcuffs.
“They came in around 5.30 pm after I just left the place but they called me that some people had come, and were just embarrassing them. I told them to observe what was happening and this whole harassment was throughout the night.
“The following morning, my managers who were supposed to be on the ground, but were at the Warri Refinery where we were evacuating 25 million litres of sludge in their wastewater pit, came to meet him.
“They showed him the permits that allow us to handle the materials we are working with because the following morning when he came, he asked his men to go around and pick in the barge, and storage tanks, and he told his people to do a video coverage, and all that.
“We showed him about seven contracts ongoing with different companies, including
Warri Refinery, Sahara Energy. It is a waste contract at Ajoki, close to Koko.
