BY NONYELUM JULIET
Ogun
The Yoruba Youth Council (YYC) has asked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to sack the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla for alleged supporting oil theft.
The group in a statement on Wednesday signed by its National President, Comrade Eric Oluwole urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to order a thorough investigation of CNS boss.
The group however, accused the CNS of sabotaging the President’s efforts against oil theft.
The coalition spoke against the backdrop of allegations by another group of Nigerians of large-scale corruption and involvement in procurement fraud and contract splitting, in violation of the Procurement Act against the CNS.
The group therefore passed vote of no confidence on Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla.
Recall that the group in January had levelled the allegations against the CNS in a petition to the Fedral Government Tunubu led administration.
The YYC said that it was disturbed that allegations were still flying around that the CNS is sabotaging Mr President’s efforts in fighting oil theft.
“For instance, it said there are allegations that a ship recently arrested by private security for oil theft was released to its owners after series of agitation by stakeholders; and that tank vessels were being allowed to evacuate or dilute exhibit in the name of taking samples, which ideally are taken in small bottles for laboratory tests”.
The YYC said it gathered that the President had ordered the re-arrest of the said ship and sanctioned full investigation.
“It named the vessels involved in the alleged recent oil theft incident tagged MT PRESTIGIOUS AT BONNY ANCHORAGE”.
Oluwole said: “It is in view of these disturbing allegations, and a strongly-worded petition to His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in January that we the YYC call on the President to sack the CNS and order a full-scale probe into his activities while in office.
“We are fully in support of the ongoing efforts of the President and his administration to fight head-on oil theft, and stop its long-term bleeding of the Nigerian economy.
“Therefore we call on the President to remove any stumbling block on his path to successfully fight this monster called oil theft which he inherited, and sanitise the entire oil sector.”
“A group of concerned Nigerians comprising of lawyers, human rights activists and anti-corruption crusaders, had in January petitioned Federal Government expressing concerns over some allegations against the CNS”.
According to their petition: “At a time when the country is grappling with significant revenue losses due to crude oil theft, it is distressing to discover that the Chief of Naval Staff, whose primary responsibility it is to safeguard Nigeria’s waterways against oil theft and other forms of criminality, is allegedly colluding with the perpetrators of these heinous crimes against the Nigerian state.”
