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Oil Theft: Tompolo Uncovers More 42 Tapping Points In Delta, Bayelsa

Published

3 years ago

October 9, 2022

…How Tantita, Security Operatives Discovered Breaches On Pipelines – Tompolo

…Oil Bunkers Angry; Send Threat Messages To Tompolo, Tantita Operatives

Ex-militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, and security officials have uncovered 42 more tapping points by crude oil bunkers on the nation’s oil pipelines in two states – Delta and Bayelsa, bringing the total to 58, on Sunday.

The breakthrough came as bunkers, angry with the leader of the defunct Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, for exposing their unlawful business, in the past few weeks, sent him and operatives of Tantita Security Services Limited, TSSL, threat messages.

Tantita also, last Thursday, seized a vessel suspected to belong to an oil syndicate, which came to load crude oil from an undisclosed location in Delta State.

However, Tompolo, who spoke to reporters, on Sunday, at Oporoza, the traditional headquarters of Gbaramatu kingdom, Warri South-West local government area, Delta state, dismissed the threat by the oil bunkers.

At the time the Chief of Defense Staff, General Lucky Irabor, and the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited, NNPCL, Engr. Mele Kyari, visited Delta state, last Friday, Tantita reported the discovery of 16 tapping points on the trans-Forcados pipeline, which NNPCL had clamped.

Tompolo said, “As of today (Sunday), we have discovered over 58 points tapping points that oil bunkers have used in stealing crude oil from the nation’s pipelines in Delta and Bayelsa states.”

“In Delta, three major crude pipelines, including the trans-Escravos and Trans- Ramos lines have been tapped by oil bunkers.

“The tapping points that were traced on Friday were with the help of the Nigerian security, which was why inside the rain and everything, we could trace the lines

“We are doing the work together with the security agents; we are only providing intelligence for the security to assist to do the work. Therefore, everybody, NNPCL, and security agencies are working together in a very good spirit now.

“Now, the military has helped us to discover and stop the people from doing illegal activities, so we are going to work together and we do not want to go into details. The stealing had been going on for over eight to nine years,” he said.

On the threat messages to his boys, he asserted, “As for threat messages, that is normal, even this morning, they sent messages to me, but I think it is something we can handle.”

The ex-militant leader, who sounded optimistic they would soon curtail illegal oil bunkering, said, “With the way we are going now, we are getting cooperation from all the security agencies, both the ones in the state here and at the top. Therefore, by the grace of God, in no distant time, we will stop this largely.”

He said the company was not facing any major challenge, adding, “At a very point in time, we will always provide the intelligence and security people will come and do the work.”

On the barricading of creeks by oil bunkers with trees, he said: “That is the more reason we are involved, if we see any creek that is blocked with trees, we will bring in motor-saw people to cut it and we go inside.

“Where the security people cannot even go, we will first go there and ask them to follow because we cannot do anything with the security people. In addition, with the way all of them are actually cooperating, we will achieve the desired result.

“The communities are not posing a problem, it is the bunkers that offer resistance but even at that, like what I said before, this is our area, we are doing everything to ensure that we reduce oil bunkering to the barest minimum because the aquatic life in our area is almost gone.

“The crude oil that we recover from the creek, we are trying to get a barge where we will pump in the product, along the line, if any sink, we will not follow that because the terrain is bad. However, we will do everything within our power to stop further destruction and pollution,” he said.

Tompolo asserted: “There is no creek that anybody will pass in the region that I will not understand or the people working with me will not know. For now, we do not have any problem.

“Our major problem is the aquatic life of the people is gone and we are doing everything together with traditional rulers, security agencies, Department of State Services, DSS, and all that to ensure that we reduce it to the barest minimum so that our people can survive.”

Admitting that pipeline surveillance “is stressful,” he said there was no problem with the communities and he did not envisage that oil bunkers would not yield to his appeal to stop oil bunkering.

His words: “Before this time, I have been discussing with oil bunkers, whether from Rivers or Bayelsa, all over the place. Even many of them actually understand that oil bunkering is not a good thing for our environment.

“And that this the more reason we think there will not much problem for us to stop it, but their complaint is that there are no other means of survival.”

On the scarcity of kerosene, he said, “We are going to appeal to Federal Government and NNPCL to see what they can do about the local refinery, but you cannot fight illegality with illegality.”
VANGUARD

Related Topics:#Tompolo Bunkerers Oil theft

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Trump Threatens To Unleash ‘Hell’ On Hamas

Published

15 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.

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Israeli Forces Strike Gaza Despite Trump’s Ceasefire Call

Published

15 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

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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