By Chidiebere Ugwu
The Enugu State caucus of the House of Representatives has described the current smear campaign against the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice-Admiral Emmanuel Ikechukwu Ogalla, as the handwork of the crude oil thieves whose criminal activities have been brutally ended since Admiral Ogalla took over the headship of Navy.
A statement by the Leader of the caucus, Hon. Nnolim Nnaji after an emergency meeting with members in Abuja at the weekend, emphasized that it was obvious that the Naval Chief has turned the heat against the oil thieves who have now resorted to blackmail to get him off their way.
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“Vice Admiral Ogalla from records, has had a very excellent career in the Nigerian Navy and had not for once been found directly or indirectly involved in any misconduct as an officer,” the statement stated.
It addef that the organized media campaign by “the economic saboteurs” was to distract him and probably get him off their way.
The House caucus further declared that, “it totally 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 and engaging in multimillion-naira contract-splitting fraud and the release of 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.
