The Movement for Sustainable Development of the Niger Delta (MSDND) has cautioned President Bola Tinubu over the recent claims by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and its Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO), Malam Mele Kyari, of rising cases of illegal pipeline connections and refineries in the Niger Delta region.

According to the group, the outburst of the NNPCL and Mr Mele Kyari is not consistent with what is on the ground in the Niger Delta region. It is a false battle cry meant to deceive and distract Tinubu and the Nigerian public.

It said the NNPCL and Kyari had in a press statement claimed to have uncovered 38 illegal pipeline connections and 108 illegal refineries between June 22 and June 28 and that they also claimed that the war on crude oil theft is in full swing, and that the NNPCL‘s collaborations with security agencies continue to record remarkable progress.

But MSDND, in a statement via electronic mail and signed by its publicity secretary, Kelvin Orughoe, accused the NNPCL and Kyari of being desperate to hoodwink Tinubu and Nigerians with non-existent facts and pure lies which tag the millions of persons in the Niger Delta region as thieves.

Orughoe also argued that the NNPCL‘s claim is based on an old playbook used to deceive Nigerians every year for the past eight years. He said the same fraudulent scheme was used to deceive former President Muhammadu Buhari into agreeing to the non-remittance of billions of dollars from crude oil sales into federal government coffers for over seven months.

He said, “We are writing to President Bola Tinubu not to be deceived by the false battle cry by the NNPCL using non-existence numbers of illegal refineries and the so-called massive oil theft activities in the creeks of the Niger Delta.”