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September 6, 2022
Some IPMAN had earlier accused personnel of the corps of aiding and abetting vandals and oil thieves to carry out illegal activities in the state.
The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has dissolved all anti-vandal teams nationwide.
The NSCDC Commandant General, Ahmed Audi, said the dissolution was part of the reorganisation efforts of the Corps and a way of redeeming the image of the service.
He added that investigation was still ongoing in the issue of extortion of members of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) by personnel of the service.
Some IPMAN had earlier accused personnel of the corps of aiding and abetting vandals and oil thieves to carry out illegal activities in the state.
The extortion according to them is ongoing despite the disbandment of the anti-vandal unit of the Rivers State Command of the Corps.
The state governor, Nyesom Wike, had accused personnel of the Corps of aiding and abetting vandals and oil thieves to carry out illegal activities in the state, leading to the subsequent suspension of the leader of the anti-vandal team and the disbandment of the unit.
However, SaharaReporters gathered that NSCDC officials randomly accused marketers of selling illegal petroleum products, thereby forcing them to pay thousands of naira.
Some of the oil marketers who spoke with SaharaReporters had accused Mr. Maduka and Mr Okafor, who were both former members of the defunct anti-vandal team, of leading the extortion ring.
Narrating their ordeal, one of the oil marketers who has been extorted said he recently paid about one million naira (N1 million) and that two million naira (N2 million) was initially demanded by the extortion ring.
"They are always led by Mr. Maduka and one of their superiors, Mr. Okafor. They are from the anti-vandal department of NSCDC Command at Olu Obasanjo Road, Port Harcourt,” one of the victims had told SaharaReporters.
"They carry out this extortion with so much threat and at gunpoint. They go to different filling stations, especially along East-West Road claiming that our diesel and gasoline were not got from the right marketers but from illegal refineries that had been destroyed.”
In a video obtained by SaharaReporters, two operatives of the NSCDC are seen counting bulks of money in the office of one of their victims.
The video shows two armed officers negotiating and demanding money from a female oil marketer.
In what looked like a tense mood, the female oil marketer brought out a huge amount of money from the drawer and a handbag and handed some money over to the two NSCDC officers, who from time to time checked the door for possible intruders.
The officers thereafter tucked the cash in a big brown envelope before leaving the office.
Angered by the report, Ahmed Abubakar Audi, Commandant-General of NSCDC on Monday set up an investigative panel to probe the officials caught on tape.
“I will make scapegoats out of these bad elements within the system to serve as a deterrent to others like them, if what is seen in that video is correct,” Audi said.
"The Corps is out leading the fight against oil theft and illegal oil bunkering and some bad eggs within the service are out there sabotaging our efforts, giving us bad name and image.
"Only last week, I read the 'Riot Act' to all heads of Anti-vandal unit in the Niger Delta region, this time around, I will make sure that anyone dragging our name in the mud is shown the way out.
"I have given the Investigative committee only one week to authenticate the video and submit their report which we shall act on with immediate alacrity.
"The Corps has in place internal disciplinary mechanism that usually regulated the conducts of personnel and anybody found wanting will be dealt with accordingly.
"The terms of reference of the Investigative panel are to conduct a forensic examination of the trending video without prejudice, with a view to identifying those captured by the camera.
"They are also to recommend commensurate punitive action for the Infringement committed in accordance with Public Service Rules.
"The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps will never tolerate any acts or conducts capable of jeopardising public interest as well as its mandate of safeguarding all Critical National Assets and Infrastructure in the country.
"Any officer caught in violation of the Corps Standard Operating Procedure and Code of Ethics would be decisively dealt with irrespective of rank, status or nativity.
"Only few days ago, we commissioned 8 gunboats in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, to wage a full scale war against oil theft and illegal bunkering and we will not be deterred from protecting our commonwealth and improving government's revenue in this sector.”