The leadership of Enugu North Professionals for Good Governance, has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, to order the immediate arrest of those sponsoring malicious publications against the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ikechukwu Ogalla.
In a statement signed by the President of the Group, Hon. Emmanuel Ikechukwu-Jonathan, JP Esq, and made available to newsmen on Tuesday in Abuja, the group urged the President to use the position of his office to arrest the peddlers of the malicious publication who have committed a defamation against the Naval Chief, stating that defamation is against Nigerian law.
The group whose main objective is to advocate for good governance in all sectors of the country, said that the sponsors of the false publication against Ogalla were the real enemies of Nigeria.
The group urged the President not to heed to the evil tricks of the sponsors of the said publications, which is a bold attempt to truncate the fight of the CNS against crude oil theft.
According to the group, “the actions of those sponsoring these malicious publications have shown that they are obviously the real oil thieves causing all the havoc we experience around Nigeria’s oil facilities. They are not comfortable with the resilience of the naval chief in crushing the thieving cartel and they have resorted to using the media to pull the Naval boss down through unfounded allegations.”
“We appeal to Mr. president to immediately order the arrest of the publishers of the online newspaper: Peoples Gazette and their cosponsors for allowing themselves to be used by oil thieves to defame the character of the Naval Chief, thus constituting hindrances to the fight against oil theft.
“What they are systematically doing is to defame and push the Chief of the Naval Staff, out of office. The allegations in their campaign of calumny have no facts, otherwise they would have since presented them,” the professionals said.
Enugu North Professionals for Good Governance commended the Naval Headquarters for proactively issuing a disclaimer, clearing CNS Ogalla of all allegations levelled against him in the malicious publication by Peoples Gazette news.
It will be recalled that Ogalla was accused of involvement in facilitating un-authorised bunkering of crude oil and engaging in multimillion-naira contract-splitting fraud. He was also maliciously accused of releasing of several oil tankers previously seized for transporting stolen crude oil and receiving substantial kickbacks, which the navy headquarters has denied.
Following these allegations, the minister of state for defence, Bello Matawalle, promised to conduct a thorough investigation into the matter.
Tantita Security Services Limited (TSL) owned by former militant Government Ekpemupolo (aka Tompolo), is one of the firms allegedly unhappy with the current great exploits of the Navy in the Niger Delta. Oil thieves loom large in the country’s coastal waters, and they constitute a powerful cartel that could cause maximum damage to anyone who refuses to agree to their malfeasance.
