US coast guard seize Nigerian tanker amid claims of security complicity in oil theft

The United States Coast Guard, in collaboration with the U.S. Navy, has seized the Nigerian-owned supertanker, Skipper, over allegations of crude oil theft, piracy, and other transnational maritime crimes. 

The incident has reignited concerns over Nigeria’s maritime security, crude oil accountability, and the alleged involvement of criminal networks operating across land and sea.

The seizure highlights a broader pattern of oil theft in Nigeria, extending from offshore operations to onshore pipeline vandalism, often reportedly carried out with the tacit support of compromised security personnel.

Reports indicate that on 25th August 2025, Tonye Chisholm Jaja, an employee of Dorjay Integrated Services Ltd, first observed an armed militant group, the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), vandalizing a pipeline for crude theft in Bodo Community, Rivers State.

Jaja documented the incident with photographs and immediately reported it to military personnel and security officers stationed at the site.

The following day, 26th August 2025, the militant group allegedly returned to the site in search of Jaja. Fearing for his safety, he fled and formally reported the matter to the local police at the Bodo Divisional Headquarters later that same day.

Tragically, on 27th August 2025, armed militants reportedly attacked Jaja’s family home, firing indiscriminately. While Jaja and several family members escaped, his younger brother, Dienye Chisholm Jaja, was killed, and other bystanders were reportedly hit by stray bullets.

The incident has drawn attention to claims that certain security operatives may have been complicit in the illegal oil operations, raising questions about oversight and accountability in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.