Itsekiri personnel affiliated with Tantita Security Services Limited have refuted claims made in a viral video where individuals were seen protesting against Government Ekpemupolo, popularly known as Tompolo, and his security outfit. The individuals asserted that Itsekiri people have indeed been employed by the firm.
This clarification was made during a press briefing held in Ugbodede community, located in the Warri South Local Government Area of Delta State, on Friday, April 26, 2024. Fidelis Lori, the Coordinator of Obodo, Opumami Cluster, along with representatives from six other communities, highlighted that numerous Itsekiri indigenes are currently engaged in paid employment with Tantita Security Services Limited.
They said: “We have a contract with the Tantita Security Services Limited. We have those that are employed directly by Tantita Security Services and by the grace of God, most of our coordinators are here.
“We are here to tell the general public that whatever they were saying was indeed misleading. Itsekiri communities to the best of our knowledge have been carried along.
“We’ve looked into that video closely, and in analysing it, we discovered that those that are involved in the purported protest are not Itsekiri indigenes. These impersonators they’re not from our communities. The people you are seeing here now are the people representing Itsekiri communities.
“In my cluster, where I happen to be the coordinator, I have about 135 job slots, it’s already ongoing and payment is prompt.”
Meanwhile, Engr. Samson Uwatse, the Coordinator of Tantita, Ugbodede Unit, covering routes along Warri Rivers, maintained that Tantita has touched many lives in the Itsekiri region.
“We have employees in Ugbodede Community as a whole. In this community, we have women employees, elders, and youths who are partaking in Tantita Security Services, and they all have been paid every month.
“So, with all these, I want to inform the entire nation that those people that are saying that Tompolo and Tantita are not carrying Itsekiri along are liars as the Tantita office is doing well in fighting oil theft in the nation. We the Itsekiris are here to support it fully,” Uwatse stated.
Another Tantita beneficiary, Kuyatsemi Collins, and others slammed those behind the viral videos, stressing that “they are not happy with the false and mischievous accusation that Tantita is not giving attention to Itsekiri people.”
