From Tony John, Port Harcourt
The Managing Director of Abili Integrated Services Limited, Brown Edoghotu, has said the company has achieved up to 96 per cent surveillance coverage of oil facilities within its areas of responsibility across the Niger Delta.
He rejected allegations of operational incompetence that allegedly enabled oil sabotage, insisting instead that the firm’s performance demonstrates strong asset protection capability and measurable results in production support.
According to him, the company’s records show up to 96 per cent effectiveness in safeguarding oil assets, which he described as verifiable operational data rather than assumptions.
“These are not claims, they are verifiable operational results,” he said.
He was reacting to presentations reportedly made by Tantita Limited, a company with the biggest oil protection contract with the federal government, at the National Assembly.
Edoghotu told journalists at a press conference in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, yesterday, that the video had his image in it, thus making him look like an oil vandal.
The managing director stated that he was on legitimate duty at an oil spill scene sometime in the past, not to sabotage an oil facility.
He explained: “Note, we do not cover all the land areas, only a portion of it. At Abili Integrated Services Limited, we stand by integrity, performance, and accountability.
We believe that results, not rhetoric, should determine credibility.
“We are security contractors in the Nigerian oil industry. We were engaged in 2021 by NAOC (now Oando) to provide security for all oil assets operated by them in the land areas comprising 12 local government areas in Rivers, Bayelsa, Imo and Delta States.”
He said the Joint Committee on Petroleum Resources of the National Assembly held a roundtable on pipeline security on April 8, 2026. “As was clear to everyone, it went to extraordinary lengths to secure its position as the sole contractor for the pipeline surveillance contract”, he said.
Edoghotu added that he has no objection to any Niger Delta indigene securing federal government contracts, but stressed that such opportunities should not come at the detriment of Abili Integrated’s interests or mandate.
He stated: “This involved falsely maligning other operators in the sector. We are making this intervention today, because our corporate integrity was falsely maligned during the presentation.”
He said it was strange that officials of other companies protecting oil assets were made to look like they were sabotaging oil assets in the region.
According to Edoghotu, the people chased for vandalising pipelines were traced to the same company in Warri.
He said: “My presence at the scene after the incident was in the course of duty. The incident referenced in the video happened at Oshika in Ahaoda West LGA on September 22, 2022. My team and I visited the scene on the same day.
“My presence at the scene was part of my responsibility to ensure immediate assessment and swift resolution, to prevent recurrence. I need to emphasise that I was on ground with my team, two representatives of the Nigerian Agip Oil Company, alongside the military personnel, men and officers of the Nigeria Police Force, and members of the Civil Defence Corps, deployed to support our operations.”
To buttress his defence, he said: “As a matter of fact, Mele Kyari, the former MD of NNPC, met our team right there on the scene while we were destroying the camp during one of his site visits.”
He stressed that the incident under reference was a coordinated and deliberate action to rubbish and damage his integrity, then take his job. “It is noteworthy that the then Central Corridor operator (Eni) appeared to recognise these dynamics and did not act in a manner that supported the alleged intent.”
He decried unethical practices in protecting oil assets in the Niger Delta and urged all oil asset protecting companies to play by the rule and allow others to also win jobs and do their own jobs.
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