The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, its former CEO Mele Kyari, and others have filed a counter-affidavit denying allegations by the Incorporated Trustees of the AGIP Indigenous Contractors Association and others, who accused them of unlawfully awarding a pipeline surveillance contract to Tantita Security Services Limited in the Niger Delta.

This was disclosed in a court document filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja, according to Nairametrics.

In the counter-affidavit deposed to by Mr. Suleiman Kuku Usman, NNPCL’s Lead Counsel on Community Claims, the Court was urged to dismiss the plaintiffs’ claims as “untrue, incorrect, and misconstrued.”

Usman further argued that the plaintiffs’ submission of letters of interest did not confer any exclusive right or automatic eligibility to be awarded the pipeline surveillance contract.

The NNPC Ltd, by virtue of Section 53(1), (7) & (8) of the Petroleum Industry Act, is a private limited liability company registered under the Companies and Allied Matters Act and empowered to conduct its affairs on a commercial basis in a profitable and efficient manner without recourse to government funds, to operate as a Companies and Allied Matters Act entity, and required to pay all fees, rents, royalties, and taxes to the Government like any other company in Nigeria,” the official added.

The AGIP Indigenous Contractors, who describe themselves in court as the apex body representing the interests of indigenous contractors from oil and gas-producing communities in the Niger Delta, had filed a suit against NNPCL, Mele Kyari, and others, alleging that the pipeline surveillance contract awarded to Tantita Security Services Limited was the result of an unlawful bidding process.

It was earlier reported that the AGIP Contractors alleged that in 2020, NNPCL and Mele Kyari unlawfully awarded a pipeline surveillance security contract to Tantita Security Services Limited and others without adhering to due process, particularly the provisions of Section 15 of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act, 2010.

The plaintiffs — comprising AGIP contractors and other indigenous companies and directors, including Eliax Bleet Nig Limited, Tamak Plan Oil & Gas Ltd, De-friyo Marine Services Limited, Kalas Agai Nimitenbofa, Chief Taylor Amakiri, and Joclemsco Nig Ltd — claim that despite submitting several letters of interest requesting to participate in the bidding process, they were excluded in violation of the Act.

The plaintiffs alleged that NNPCL deliberately breached relevant laws by excluding them from participating in and benefiting from the bidding and award process for the surveillance contract, in violation of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act.

They further alleged that “the surveillance security contracts awarded by the 1st and 2nd respondents (NNPCL and Kyari) were done in complete violation of the laws governing the oil and gas industry, due to their personal interests; these contracts were awarded to their cronies and were shared among the staff of the 1st and 2nd respondents, allowing them to nominate companies of their choice to benefit, while excluding the plaintiffs, who are qualified to perform such duties as Nigerian companies,” it submitted.