Rear Admiral Mustapha Hassan, Flag Officer Commanding Western Naval Command Apapa, voiced his dismay at the way the situation was handled when a 15,000 metric-ton vessel was intercepted. He disclosed that the ship had carried around two-thirds of its planned cargo when it was intercepted. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) received a telegram from Tantita, the organization responsible for intercepting the tanker, indicating that they had arrested it. This surprised Rear Admiral Hassan. He emphasized the importance of the Aweye riverine region, pointing out Tantita’s current presence there as well as the area’s large militant population.
Rear Admiral Hassan revealed that he was perplexed by the absence of prior intelligence-sharing with him, considering Tantita’s presence in the area. He added that he expected to be informed if there were indications of potential incidents so that he could take prompt action, but no such communication occurred. Instead, he explained that Tantita began efforts to move the vessel to Oporoza, a creek in Delta State, the day after the interception.
According to him, “At the time of the interruption, the ship had loaded about 2/3 of the value of what they wanted. Now, I was shocked to hear that Tantita sent a message to NNPC that they arrested a vessel. Most importantly, the area, the Aweye riverine area is highly populated by militants, and Tantita has a good presence there. If there was good intelligence that something was about to happen, I expected Tantita to have informed me so that I’d swing into action; rather, nothing was heard. But in the afternoon of the next day, they started making efforts to move the ship to Oporoza, a creek in Delta State. It baffles me: Why is a contractor trying to take a ship from the legitimate custodian of arrested vessels to a creek for what they called collective testing?”
