A group, the Movement for Sustainable Development of the Niger Delta, MSDND, has written a protest letter to President Bola Tinubu over claims by the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited, NNPCL, Mele Kyari, on oil the Niger Delta region.

According to the group, Kyari’s claims are not consistent with what is on ground in the Niger Delta region and is a false battle cry meant to deceive and distract President Bola Tinubu and Nigerians.

Kyari had in a press statement claimed that the NNPCL uncovered 38 illegal pipeline connections and 108 illegal refineries in the Niger Delta between June 22 and June 28.

But the group, in a statement on Thursday, accused the Kyari of lying.

MSDND Publicity Secretary, Kelvin Orughoe, said, “They used the same fraudulent scheme to deceive former President Muhammadu Buhari into agreeing to the non-remittance of billions of dollars from crude oil sales into Federal Government coffers for over seven (7) months.

“We are writing to President Bola Tinubu not to be deceived by the false battle cry by the NNPCL using non-existence numbers of illegal refineries and the so-called massive oil theft activities in the creeks of the Niger Delta.

“These NNPCL acclaimed sites of 38 illegal pipeline connections and 108 illegal refineries do not exist in the creeks of the Niger Delta region.

“President Tinubu should take a second look at the numbers presented by the NNPCL and Mr. Mele Kyari, because these are falsified numbers that don’t exist.

“If these numbers of illegal bunkering and illegal refining sites exist, how then do the people in the Niger Delta region breath? Instead of presenting false figures, Mele Kyari and his cohorts in the NNPCL should tell Nigerians the truth about where the real leakages of Nigeria’s crude oil exist.”