JTF Boss, Aiteo’s CEO, Benedict Peters In Counter Claims Over N1.192b Pipeline Protection Deal

The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Aiteo Energy, Benedict Peters and Commander of the military task force, Operation Delta Safe, Rear Admiral Apochi Suleiman are currently enmeshed in a media war over the N1.192 billion pipeline protection deal the company claimed they had with JTF over a period of three years.

This is coming following allegations by coalition of Niger Delta Civil Society activists and the Niger Delta environmental protection group led by Tochukwu Ohazuruike, that the JTF boss, Suleiman was neck-deep in illegal activities especially in the oil sector.

The group which staged a mass protest in Abuja demanding the immediate removal of the naval Officer as the Commander of the Special Task Force (STF) in the Niger Delta had alleged that the military chief was aiding and abating oil bunkering, vandalism of oil facilities as well as stealing in the area.

But the military chief, denying the allegations had allegedly accused Chief Executive of Aiteo, an oil company, Mr. Benedict Peters, of masterminding the protest, saying that the oil magnate want to get him out of his job.

However, an insider of the Aiteo claimed and backed up with documents that they had paid the military over N1 billion in three years to guard their facilities without any effect.

Suleiman said Peters, who is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Aiteo Energy, was uncomfortable with him because he found him uncompromising in his job.

While refuting the allegations levelled against him in a telephone interview, the naval officer challenged those accusing him of wrongdoings to show proof.

According to him, he had already put his response in detail and was forwarding it to the appropriate authorities, saying he had no skeleton in his cupboard.

Hear him: I’m not bothered about the allegations they have raised because I know the source. It is Aiteo, Benedict Peters.

“It’s you people that have been covering that man, Peters Benedict who is in Ghana. He’s a fugitive. He said the STF should guard his line, OML 29. He’s the man who’s sponsoring every illegal activity in Nigeria on behalf of some groups of people, he’s the one sponsoring any illegal gathering in Nigeria.

“He’s a fugitive. Recently, he wrote me a letter that he wanted men of the Nigerian Armed Forces to come and guide his line and I told him that ‘why do you want Armed Forces when we have task force on ground?’ I told him ‘you are covering up something and I’m going to expose what you are doing and he told me that I don’t know him, so if I like I should go.’

“That he’s telling me he needed Armed Forces to protect him and I’m telling him another thing.”

But contrary to the allegation by Suleiman, a THISDAY report sourced from NewsExpress, quoting a source at Aiteo, provided evidence of payment to newsmen showing that the company has paid the JTF a total of N1.192 billion for the protection of its oil pipelines over a period of three years.

A breakdown of the payment schedule showed that for 2015 alone, the company paid a total of N19.696 million to the JTF. Out of this amount, N5.146 million was meant for the 130 Battalion operations, while the Forward Operating Base Formoso was to have that 23 million in 2015 alone.

Also, in 2016, the Aiteo, according to the document, paid the JTF a total of N462.033 million. Of this sum, the JTF collected N45.824 million for the 130 Battalion Operations in that year; N46.462 million for the 146 Battalion got; N24.596 million for the 343 Artillery Regiment; N194.751 million for the Forward Operating Base Formoso; and N150.400 million for what was termed the Gunboat Coy RVS Sector 3 and HQ Sector 2.

Equally, in 2017, Aiteo raised its payment to the JTF to a total of N449.419 million. Also, a breakdown of this showed that the JTF received N79.512 million for its 130 Battalion Operations in 2017; N59.406 million for its 146 Battalion; N48.400 million for its 343 Artillery Regiment; N152.908 million for its Forward Operating Base Formoso; and N109.193 million for its Gunboat Coy RVS Sector 3 and HQ Sector 2.

The payment continued into 2018, where so far, the JTF has received a total of N260.663 million from Aiteo this year. Similarly, a breakdown of the sum showed that this year alone, the company has committed N50.880 million for surveillance of pipeline, as payment to the 130 Battalion Operations; N31.143 to the 146 Battalion; N32.640 million to the 343 Artillery Regiment; N92.600 million to the Forward Operating Base Formoso; and N53.400 million to the Gunboat Coy RVS Sector 3 and HQ Sector 2.

“So, how can Commander Apochi now claim that they were trying to make the Armed Forces to protect their assets? In any case, this is a national asset jointly owned by Aiteo and NNPC”, the source stated.