OIL THIEVES RESPONSIBLE FOR CAMPAIGN OF CALUMNY AGAINST OGALLA, NAVAL CHIEF – ENUGU HOUSE OF REPS CAUCUS

Abuja – The Enugu State Caucus of the House of Representatives has accused crude oil thieves of being responsible for what they described as “an ongoing campaign of calumny” against the Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ikechukwu Ogalla.

In a statement signed by the Leader of the caucus, Hon. Nnolim Nnaji, after an emergency meeting with members in Abuja at the weekend, the parliamentarians noted that it was obvious that the Naval Chief has turned the heat against the oil thieves, who have now resorted to blackmail and image smear to get him off their way.

The Caucus stated that the criminal activities of the oil thieves have been effectively contained since Admiral Ogalla took over the leadership of the Nigerian Navy, hence the coordinated media war against the Naval Chief.

According to the statement, “Vice Admiral Ogalla from records, has had a very excellent career in the Nigerian Navy and has not for once been found directly or indirectly involved in any misconduct as an officer”, the statement stated.

The House members added that the organized media campaign by the economic saboteurs was to distract him and probably get him off their way to enable the continuation of their economic sabotage against the nation.

They further said in the statement that the Caucus “aligns itself with the position of the Naval Headquarters as encapsulated in a statement issued by the Naval spokesman, Rear-Admiral Adetokun Ayo-Vaughan, which exonerated Vice-Admiral Ogalla from all the spurious allegations contained in the media reports”.

The Chief of Naval Staff was slammed with sundry allegations of facilitating unauthorised bunkering of crude oil, engaging in multimillion-naira contract-splitting fraud, and releasing several oil tankers previously seized for transporting stolen crude oil off Nigerian shores.

Nnaji in the statement, urged the Naval Chief not to be deterred by the attacks on his person and office from carrying out the work of protecting the oil economy of the country, adding that Nigerians would stand with him as long as he remained committed to his duties.

Recall that a certain coalition recently levelled sundry allegations of corrupt practices against the Naval Chief despite his long standing record of unblemished service to the nation.

Whereas some have asked for a thorough investigation of the allegations, others have wave it off as “corruption fighting back”.