Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Christopher Musa
Ijaw group urges Chief of Defence Staff to step up security around oil, gas facilities in Nigeria Delta
A sociocultural group, the Southern Ijaw Unity Forum, has called on the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Christopher Musa, to step up security around oil and gas facilities in the Niger Delta region.
The forum, in a statement made available to newsmen on Sunday by its Chairman, Timothy Amadiowei, in Abuja, urged Musa to come up with concrete measures to end bunkering activities in the region.
The group also urged the Federal Government to terminate the gunboat oil politics with immediate effect.
It alleged that giving surveillance contractors access to military might has brought more chaos and disunity to Niger Delta communities, especially in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa.
It said it would be better for the military to go after suspected oil thieves “based on their own intelligence rather than relying on tip offs from pipeline surveillance contractors who are currently the biggest oil thieves in the region.”
It alleged that while the presidency, the armed forces and non-Niger Deltans believe these surveillance contractors are helping them secure oil and gas facilities, the reverse is the case as these oil thieves who are now working for the government have their underwater loading point at Odioma sea mouth where raw crude is exported in unprecedented large quantities to their buyers.
He revealed that these contractors have employed diversionary tactics whereby they shift the attention of the military from their illicit acts and keep the personnel on the manhunt for those who expose them.
It also condemned what he described as unprovoked raid of Peremabiri Community by operatives of the Nigerian Navy on June 27, 2025; saying that it was instigated by false allegations of oil bunkering.
“The raid and its consequential military attention to Peremabiri and its environs are mere diversionary ploys to shift attention of the military from oil bunkering activities of some surveillance contractors operating in Boma clan in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area.
“Their plan consists of inciting unprovoked military actions against their targets and other law-abiding individuals in Boma clan who try to expose them to the Federal Government that they are into large-scale oil bunkering.
“After causing crisis in our communities and bringing the military to chase after their perceived enemies, these surveillance contractors go behind to load crude oil from designated points under the cover of surveillance activities.
“Their main mode of operations is to ensure that individuals who expose their oil bunkering are perpetually placed on military watch-list on false allegations.
“It is in this same Southern Ijaw that two different pipeline security companies’ workers had a confrontation and were shooting each other over a crude oil loading point – simply because they told the other group you cannot load from this point.
“But if it was one small oil thief trying to survive, the surveillance contractors will use the military to go after the person.”
“This is the kind of surveillance security they do – by using one hand to chase small small jobless youths from doing bunkering, while they use the other hand to load large vessels of crude and sell illegally, and the military doesn’t go after them because they think these security workers have the interest of the nation at heart.
“We are tired of this tactics because it brings nothing but chaos to our communities, and that is why we are drawing the attention of the CDS to this matter,” the group alleged.
About The Author
