Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited, owned by a former leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), Chief Government Ekpemupolo, better known as Tompolo, has accused the Nigerian Navy of shielding some suspected oil thieves being pursued by its personnel.

The firm, an oil pipeline surveillance firm contracted by the federal government to fight oil thieves, alleged that the Navy arrested four of its personnel chasing the suspects on the high seas towards a naval base.

The Nigerian Navy had on August 31, 2023, in a press statement credited to the Commander, NNS BEECROFT, Commodore Kolawole Olumide Oguntuga, stated that it arrested four Tantita personnel for alleged crude oil theft.

But in a statement issued Saturday, Tantita described the Nigerian Navy’s statement as “a tragicomedy of errors,” insisting that it was nothing but a smear campaign.

The statement reads: “The Navy has been sharing pictures on social media of the Tantita staff in their custody in various shades of undress but kept silent about the names of the boat crew they were chasing. In short, where is the crew that the Tantita personnel chased into Ibeju Lekki?

“These family men put their lives at risk for the good of the nation and are now being made to suffer ridicule for doing the right thing. It serves to demoralise good men everywhere who have sought and are seeking to do something to better our nation.

“As soon as these men were arrested, the management of Tantita reached out to the Nigerian Navy seeking clarification of the situation. For four days, the Navy said they were investigating and that the men would be released”.

Tantita claimed it had known the outcome of the Navy’s investigation on the incident, saying, “there are even more damning revelations, which out of courtesy to the Navy hierarchy and the needs of national security we will not divulge on the pages of a newspaper”.

The firm, however, stated that the continued detention by the Nigerian Navy of the selfless Nigerians who risked their lives on the high seas to protect the country’s commonwealth is a disservice to the nation.