The founder of the Foundation for Investigative Journalism
(FIJ), Fisayo Soyombo, has made some revelations in his first interview since
being released by the Nigerian Army.
Speaking on Arise TV on Saturday morning, Soyombo claimed he
was conducting an undercover investigation when he was arrested.
He revealed there was high security cover provided for oil
bunkerers in the country.
“It would shock you the kind of people who escort illegal
oil bunkerers out of Port-Harcourt.
“The Army spokesman already compromised my security by going
online to say that they found illegal bunkerers.
“There are clean men in the military but we need to clean up
the saboteurs who enable oil bunkerers to thrive.
“This is a new level for me that I need to do it. Rather
than change my approach, I will rather stop. Maybe I have one, two, three
undercover investigations and I will stop.
“It is not the fun of it but the situations we found
ourselves in. Imagine the story I did on smugglers. People have to know that in
their country they can be safe, and we need to expose these wrongdoings.
“The figure being put out in terms of crude oil theft are an
underestimation of what’s happening. The crude we were to move was for 50,000
barrels. If the man who got annoyed that he wasn’t bribed didn’t talk, we would
have had two trucks moved out.
“There is no institution that can say for a fact the barrels
being lifted daily.
“It is not only oil bunkerers that are thieves but those who
are also meant to supervise the sector. What we would need is an overhaul of
the system,” Soyombo said.
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