The Isoko Renaissance Group (IRG) has thrown its weight behind the current pipeline security architecture in the Niger Delta, describing it as a functional framework that has brought measurable peace and economic revival to Isoko communities.
In a statement signed by its Publicity Secretary, Aghogho Oletu, the group dismissed an open letter addressed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and published under its name as a forgery by impostors.
IRG insisted it does not seek the dissolution or alteration of the existing security arrangement, but rather its expansion to include pipeline replacement and infrastructure rehabilitation within Isoko land.
According to the group, the engagement of Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited has led to the systematic disruption of illegal refining activities in the Isoko axis, while boosting crude oil production figures nationwide.
“For the first time in our history, indigenous Isoko contractors are directly engaged in pipeline surveillance, employing over one thousand Isoko youths in legitimate and dignified work,” the statement noted.
The group described the purported appeal to restructure the security architecture as a veiled attempt to destabilise a system that has curtailed criminal activities in the region.
IRG urged security agencies to independently verify the performance of pipeline surveillance operations by engaging host communities and legitimate stakeholders rather than relying on what it called “faceless petitioners.”
