Headline

Oil Theft: Tompolo Exposes IOCs, Security Officials, Oil Bunkerers

Published

3 years ago

October 8, 2022

Editor

…Uncovers 16 hidden tapping points on trans-Forcados/Ramos pipeline

Operatives of Tantita Security Services Limited, the surveillance outfit of ex-militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, have discovered major tapping points on the Trans-Forcados/Ramos Pipeline in Delta State, through which International Oil Companies, security officials, oil bunkerers, and locals colluded to bleed the country, over the years.

It was gathered that Tompolo discovered the breaches after the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited, NNPCL, awarded him a pipeline surveillance contract, but he took time to investigate to find out those perpetrating the act.

His preliminary findings are top-secret information for the Chief of Defense Staff, CDS, General Lucky Irabor, and Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited, NNPCL, Alhaji Mele Kyari, both of who flew in from Abuja to Delta state to inspect the several violations, yesterday.

NNPCL and security officials counted 16 breaches on the pipeline operated by Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, at Yokri community and environs in Delta state, on Friday.

The pipeline runs from Otumara and ends at Forcados Terminal, but oil thieves, oil companies, and security officials had been siphoning crude oil from the line for a long time.

General Irabor, who spoke to reporters after inspecting the breaches, vowed that the Ministry of Defence would not leave any stone unturned in fishing out the culprits.

He said the ministry would carry out an investigation on the entire stretch to find out those involved, “and how long it has been among other issues.”

Also speaking to reporters, NNPCL boss, Kyari, said, “First, the attachments on our Trans- Forcados/Ramos pipeline, which are illegal connections, were professionally done.”

“And the result is that they connected it to an inner case line which will never carry crude under normal circumstances and we have seen that this line flow all the way parallel with the other two active lines into the Forcados platform.”

On the next line of action, he asserted, “The CDS has said clearly that he would investigate, and anyone involved in this process, whether from the community members, community contractors, government security agencies, workers of the oil companies, including NNPCL and Shell will be dealt with.”

He acknowledged that the company was getting massive support from security agencies and other stakeholders in the campaign to stop illegal oil bunkering.

A top official of Tantita Security Services, Engr. Ketson Pondi, who spoke on the discovery, said: “We are at the Trans- Forcados/Ramos pipeline at Yokri Flow Station, the breaches occurred at different locations on the trans-Forcados/Ramos pipeline.

“Our operation has been on for six weeks and within this period, we have discovered 16 breaches. Of the 16 that we have excavated, we have intelligence on two that are further from where we are coming from and we are still excavating.

“We will follow the pipeline until we get to Ogidigben and Madangho communities. Therefore, only God knows how many breaches we are going to see as we proceed further. At this moment, we have discovered 16 points of breaches.

“Many people are complicit in this illegal oil activities, whether it is in the security sector, community sector, even in the oil industry, that is why Tompolo is coming in.

“If you know that you have been involved and nobody is doing anything, this is the time for you to evacuate. If you do not stop, the laws protecting,” he said.

Vanguard learned that Tantita operatives started their scrutiny on the pipeline from somewhere in Obotobo community, about a week and five days ago, and also found some illegal refineries, which they reported to the authorities to destroy.

“The pipeline is being terribly tapped, we have arrested nobody, and what we are doing now is to check the pipeline, if we discover illegal refineries, we report to the authorities for them to destroy them. If we also discover tapping as we have done now, we will also report it to the authorities.

“However, if we discover people doing illegal business and apprehend them, we will hand them over to the authorities, but from all indications, it is difficult to arrest those doing tapping, you can only do it with special intel. But having reported to the authorities, they will take their decision and possibly make an arrest.

“So far, we have checked about 50 percent of the pipeline but our responsibility is very clear, as we trot the line, we also make sure we put our security personnel on the line. Tantita Security Services provide intelligence and surveillance and we interface between the communities and the oil companies that have locations on the line.

“All lines are valves, when you put people on the line, it means that nobody should come to the place to open the valve to steal oil. With what we have discovered now, the operators, in this case, SPDC, has to come and clamp the line. Until they do that, our people will be there to ensure that nobody opens any valve to steal crude oil around that place,” a company official added.
VANGUARD

Headline

Trump Threatens To Unleash ‘Hell’ On Hamas

Published

14 hours ago

October 4, 2025

Editor

US President Donald Trump has given Hamas until 2200 GMT on Sunday to accept his 20-point plan for peace in Gaza, warning the Palestinian militant group faced “all hell” if it did not agree to the terms.

The US leader set the deadline — which would fall at 1:00 a.m. Monday in Gaza — after an official for the Islamist movement told AFP earlier on Friday that the group still needed time to study the proposal to end nearly two years of devastating war in the Palestinian territory.

“If this LAST CHANCE agreement is not reached, all HELL, like no one has ever seen before, will break out against Hamas,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.

The proposal, backed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calls for a ceasefire, the release of hostages within 72 hours, Hamas’s disarmament and a gradual Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

That would be followed by a post-war transitional authority headed by Trump himself.

“Hamas is still continuing consultations regarding Trump’s plan… and has informed mediators that the consultations are ongoing and need some time,” the official said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly on the matter.

On Tuesday, Trump gave Hamas “three or four days” to accept his plan, which has been welcomed by world powers, including Arab and Muslim nations.

Mohammad Nazzal, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, said in a statement Friday that the “plan has points of concern, and we will announce our position on it soon.”

As Hamas mulled Trump’s peace plan this week, a Palestinian source close to the group’s leadership told AFP on Wednesday that the Islamist movement wanted to amend some clauses, including the one on disarmament.

Hamas leaders also want “international guarantees” for a full Israeli withdrawal and that no assassination attempts would be made inside or outside Gaza, the source added.

Another source familiar with the negotiations told AFP that the group was split over Trump’s plan.

Structurally, the group’s leadership is divided between officials based in the Gaza Strip and those abroad, particularly in Qatar.

Much of Hamas’s leadership has also been wiped out in Israeli attacks throughout the war.

The source told AFP that “the first (opinion) supports unconditional approval, as the priority is a ceasefire under Trump’s guarantees, with mediators ensuring Israel implements the plan”.

“The second has serious reservations regarding key clauses… They favour conditional approval with clarifications reflecting Hamas’s and the resistance factions’ demands,” the source added.

Hugh Lovatt, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said “ultimately it’s not just about convincing Hamas leadership in Doha, but also the leadership in Gaza, as well as Hamas members and fighters in Gaza.”

“Additionally, Hamas must then be able to convince other factions in Gaza,” he added.

The war was triggered by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 66,288 Palestinians, according to health ministry figures in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable.

Their data does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but indicates that more than half of the dead are women and children.

Headline

Israeli Forces Strike Gaza Despite Trump’s Ceasefire Call

Published

14 hours ago

October 4, 2025

Editor

Gaza’s civil defence agency said Saturday that Israel carried out dozens of attacks on Gaza City despite US President Donald Trump’s appeal to end bombardments after Hamas accepted a ceasefire deal.

“It was a very violent night, during which the (Israeli army) carried out dozens of air strikes and artillery shelling on Gaza City and other areas in the Strip, despite President Trump’s call to halt the bombing,” civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.

Bassal, whose agency is a rescue force which operates under Hamas authority, added that 20 homes were destroyed in the overnight bombardments.

“The situation is very serious in Gaza City,” Bassal said, adding that his teams were not able to reach all the casualties due to the “presence of tanks and the ongoing bombardment”.

Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military said it was “checking” reports of overnight bombardments on Gaza City.

Gaza City’s Baptist Hospital said in a statement that it received casualties from a strike on a home in Tuffah neighbourhood, including four dead and “several wounded”.

Nasser Hospital in south Gaza’s Khan Yunis said two children were killed and eight people were wounded in a drone strike on a tent in a camp for displaced Gazans.

The peace plan for Gaza, presented by Trump this week and backed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calls for a ceasefire, the release of hostages within 72 hours, Hamas’s disarmament and a gradual Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

Hamas said on Friday it was ready to release hostages held in Gaza under the Trump plan, but wanted negotiations on the details and a say in the future of the Palestinian territory.

AFP

Headline

Prosecutors Seek 11-year Sentence For Diddy, Citing ‘Lack Of Remorse’

Published

1 day ago

October 3, 2025

Editor

Prosecutors urged a federal judge Friday to sentence Sean “Diddy” Combs to more than a decade behind bars for his conviction on two prostitution-related counts, saying the music mogul had shown a lack of remorse.

“This is not a person who has accepted responsibility,” prosecutor Christy Slavik told the New York court at Diddy’s sentencing hearing.

“His remorse was qualified. It’s as though he thinks the law doesn’t apply to him,” Slavik said in arguing for an 11-year prison sentence for the 55-year-old hip-hop innovator. ” “His respect for the law is just lip service.”

Combs’s lawyers have asked the judge for a 14-month sentence, which would effectively be time served.

Slavik said Combs had booked speaking engagements in Miami next week in anticipation of a light sentence, which she called “the height of hubris.”

Judge Arun Subramanian for his part said federal sentencing guidelines suggested a prison term of between six and seven years although he has the latitude to impose more or less.

The judge also noted an apparent lack of remorse, saying Combs has “challenged his factual guilt full-throatedly.”

Combs was expected to address the court at the sentencing hearing after submitting a letter to the judge on Thursday pleading for mercy and saying he had “lost my way.”

Following two months of often searing testimony, jurors in July rejected the most serious charges of sex trafficking and racketeering against Combs, sparing him the prospect of life in prison.

Combs’s mother and six of his children were in court on Friday and have submitted letters to the judge in his support.

In his plea to the judge, Combs apologised for his conduct, saying he was “scared to death” to be away from his family and vowing he “will never commit a crime again.”

“I lost my way,” he wrote. “I got lost in my journey. Lost in the drugs and the excess.”

Combs’s former girlfriend, Casandra Ventura, asked the judge in a letter of her own to consider “the many lives that Sean Combs has upended with his abuse and control.”

– ‘Humbled and broken’ –

Ventura, the 39-year-old singer known as Cassie, testified for days while heavily pregnant.

She described in wrenching detail physical, emotional and sexual abuse she suffered while in a more than decade-long relationship with Combs.

Ventura and another woman, identified as Jane, said they were coerced into performing so-called “freak-offs”: sexual marathons with hired men that Combs directed and sometimes filmed.

“The entire courtroom watched actual footage of Combs kicking and beating me as I tried to run away from a freak off in 2016,” Ventura wrote.

“People watched this footage dozens of times, seeing my body thrown to the ground, my hands over my head, curled into a fetal position to shield me from the worst blows,” she said, noting she has nightmares and flashbacks “on a regular, everyday basis.”

Ventura said she and her family had left the New York area for fear of “retribution” from Combs if he is released.

The defense didn’t deny Combs’s sexual activity but insisted it was consensual.

They also didn’t deny Combs’s years of violence against both romantic partners as well as employees — but they said it didn’t meet the legal threshold for the grave charges he faced.

Jurors took their side.

The conviction on lesser if still serious counts stemmed from a federal statute that makes it illegal to transport people across state lines for prostitution.

Combs has been incarcerated in Brooklyn for more than a year.

He said his time in prison has left him “reborn.”

“I have been humbled and broken to my core,” Combs wrote.
AFP