Port Harcourt—The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has reportedly detained Captain Warredi Enisuouh.
This is according to reports by Daily Post Nigeria.
Enisuouh is the Executive Director of Operations and Technical of Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited, TSSNL.
The security surveillance company is owned by ex-militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo, better known as Tompolo.
The President Muhammadu Buhari administration awarded a multi-billion Naira contract to Tantita in 2022 for the protection of oil pipelines.
It was gathered that Enisuoh was coordinating an operation in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, to apprehend a top oil thief.
The EFCC got wind of and invited him on January 19, allegedly demanding that he disclose the source of his intelligence.
Enisuoh is said to have refused, causing the anti-graft commission to keep him in custody.
Meanwhile, traditional rulers from the Niger Delta region have petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari over the alleged arrest of Capt. Warredi Inisouh, by operatives of the anti-graft agency.
In a statement on Saturday published by NaijalivetlTV, the traditional rulers, under the aegis of the Niger Delta Stakeholders Forum described the arrest of Captain Warredi Inisouh as illegal and an alleged ploy by the EFCC to frustrate the ongoing fight against crude oil theft in the region.
The group alleged that by the arrest, the EFCC is aiding nefarious gangs and economic saboteurs in their crime of oil theft, pipeline vandalisation and acts of treason across the region.
The statement partly reads:
“We call for the urgent release of Capt. Warredi Inisouh from the custody of the EFCC, and for an inter-agency probe to be instituted against the leadership of the EFCC for its role in allegedly aiding unpatriotic nefarious gangs and economic saboteurs –engaged in illicit crude oil theft, trade, and pipeline vandalisation.
“When you see that men get richer by graft than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them but protect them against you; when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice -you may know that your society is doomed.
“Sir, your reputation, and that of our beloved country is at stake before a global audience.
“Tantita’s Director of Technical Operations, Captain Warredi Inisouh is being held by the EFCC Lagos branch on trumped-up charges. Capt. Inisouh a trained flight pilot and a marine captain and an expert is described by those who know him as a workaholic with an uncommon patriotic zeal who has the knack for undertaking perilous national assignments where others would shy away.
“He previously worked in the maritime and intelligence department of NIMASA.
“Capt. Inisouh while working with the maritime and intelligence department at NIMASA coordinated with Global West on behalf of NIMASA’s maritime intelligence department, and the partnership recorded tremendous success.
“Today, we have it on record that they had about 25 intervention vessels, some, because of their issue with EFCC, are no longer serviceable but we still have some serviceable vessels that are in the custody of the EFCC.
“The NIMASA DG, Dr. Bashir Yusuf Jamoh, revealed that before Global West intervened, NIMASA was making about $ 10 million – $ 12 million per annum but the intervention raised the figure to about $19.5million per month, saying that; it was from this increase that Global West got paid for its services.”
“How could an EFCC operative in Lagos undeservedly invite and interrogate an operative in an operation being superintendent by the President of the nation in a joint task including the NNPCL, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Chief of Defence Staff, the DSS to disclose his sources of information.
“That an unpatriotic EFCC operative known as one Barrister Rotimi Oyedepo of the EFCC Investigation and Legal Department in Lagos is behind these treasonous acts.
“Is this Barr. Rotimi Oyedepo of the EFCC Lagos office holds sway within the ranks of those mandated and expected to be exemplary role models in the affairs of the state, or the state must be ready to mete out exemplary punishments to serve as deterrence in situations where they become a cog in the wheel of progress or saboteurs.
“The illegal oil theft cartel cannot be allowed to go for Nigeria’s jugular, the economic reforms being carried out across the board by the federal government are in danger of collapsing if the fight against oil thieves fails, because the much-needed revenue will come from the oil and gas sector, and as evidenced by the success of High Chief Government Oweizide Ekpemupolo, and his Tantita Security Surveillance outfit in just four months to turn around the ugly narrative of the perennial vandalisation of pipeline infrastructure and oil theft and the consequent increase of national revenue.”
The monarchs further called for the release of Capt. Inisouh and a probe of the EFCC for their alleged role in aiding nefarious gangs and economic saboteurs –engaged in illicit crude oil theft, trade, and pipeline vandalisation.
The statement also urged President Muhammadu Buhari to “tame the EFCC to function within the confines of the law and legality, and only where it is mandated to carry out its functions, Barr. Rotimi Oyedepo of the Investigation and Legal Department of the EFCC Lagos cannot be used by criminal gangs and economic saboteurs to scuttle the great work being done to reposition the nation.”
