Suspense, anxiety pervades and dark clouds form in the Niger Delta region as the seven-day ultimatum issued to the Federal Government by a former leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), Chief Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, expires on June 6.
While proclaiming the ultimatum within which the Federal Government was expected to constitute a substantive board for the NDDC, Tompolo had warned on the consequences of a failure to do the needful which include a breakdown of law and order in the region with attendant effect on crude oil exploitation and exploration activities.
“It is against this background that I wish to call on Mr. President, members of the National Assembly and Security Agencies to work towards the constitution of the substantive board of the NDDC within a few days to avert a total breakdown of law and order that will equally affect crude oil exploration and exploitation activities in the region. I hereby proclaim a seven days ultimatum starting the date of this publication to inaugurate the substantive board of the commission”, he declared.
Though Minister for Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, had reportedly said nomination of board members had been forwarded to the Senate for ratification, it was largely seen as a political statement to pave way for the Federal Government to explore other measures.
This was even as a former deputy national secretary of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Comrade Timi Frank, had in a statement on Tuesday, alleged that Akpabio had been making overtures to Tompolo on his pronouncement.
“We are aware that since Tompolo made that statement, Akpabio has been making overtures towards him but we also know that Tompolo will not allow that to happen in the best interest and wellbeing of the people”, he noted.
Scudnews could not confirm Frank’s claim, but political watchers, oil industry players and the Federal Government were apparently jolted by Tompolo’s ultimatum which has heighten tension in the oil-rich Niger Delta region.
However, there are strong indications that the Federal Government is not taking the threat lightly, and may have begun moves to neutralize any untoward scenario at the expiration of the seven-day ultimatum.
Part of the countermoves, it was alleged, is the emergency meeting scheduled to hold on Friday, June 4, in Abuja by Akpabio, the Minister for Niger Delta Affairs. Expected to be in attendance at the meeting, are the leadership of the National Youth Council of Nigeria, NYCN, past leaders of the Ijaw Youth Congress, IYC, stakeholders, among others.
Coming two days ahead of the expiration of the ultimatum issued by Tompolo, close observers believe it was a plot to raise voices of dissent towards breaking Tompolo’s influence and grip particularly on youths in the Niger Delta region.
Amidst rising insecurity across the country and mounting tension in the Niger Delta, a former director of the Department of State Services, Mike Ejiofor, has warned against taking steps that would make dark clouds form in the Niger Delta and lead to a disruption of oil production in the volatile region.
“We already have serious crises in our hands; they should not allow a situation that will lead to a disruption of oil production in the Niger Delta. The Federal Government should as quickly as possible see to the resolution of the issue”, he told Scudnews on Wednesday.
Tompolo, a flashback
He was a fugitive of the law years ago, holed up in the labyrinthine creeks of the crises-ridden oil rich Niger Delta region in southern Nigeria, where he ran riot in the mangrove forests and turbulent high seas after being declared the most wanted man in the country by the then commander of the Joint Military Task Force (JTF), General Sarkin Yakin Bello, now retired.
Bello’s pronouncement, which though ended as an unaccomplished military adventure, did not however, take Chief Government Ekpemupolo, the dreaded ex-Niger Delta warlord widely regarded as the Lion of the riverine jungles, by surprise.
While he, along several others who believed in a common cause took up arms against the Nigerian Government seeking a fair deal for impoverished oil bearing communities allegedly milked dry of their oil wealth and left famished under environmentally hazardous conditions, he was not oblivious of the dire consequences, but felt it was a noble cause worth paying the supreme price with his blood.
However, for Chief Ekpemupolo, popularly known as Tompolo, the worst did not happen and the Federal Government led by the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua offered the Olive branch with a proclamation of amnesty for repentant Niger Delta militants in exchange for their arms, an offer he accepted and reportedly persuaded his fellow compatriots in the defunct Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), to embrace whole-heartedly.
His acceptance of the Federal Government’s offer dramatically transformed him from an outlaw to a beautiful bride sought after by all and sundry who wanted patronage at top level government and business circles, just as his influence and powers soared by the day. That was the scenario throughout the six-year reign of ex-president Goodluck Jonathan, Tompolo’s fellow Niger Deltan of the Ijaw ethnic stock.
While the good times lasted and he called the shots, Tompolo expectedly, was said to have stepped on several toes and created enemies of ethnic coloration and among some powerful forces in the northern oligarchy, ex-military Generals and power-brokers in the oil cabal, especially as it concerned the sale or allocation of oil blocks.
Reports indicated, for instance, that when the multinational oil giant, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, embarked on the divestment of some of its properties in Nigeria, Tompolo insisted that the oil bearing communities located within areas where oil blocks were to be sold should be offered a percentage of the proceeds of the deal.
This, according to sources, was seen as an “unbecoming affront from a little rascal” by members of the oil cabal, particularly some ex-military officers of northern extraction, who had increasingly become uncomfortable with the ex-militant leader’s growing influence and had been waiting for an opportunity to have him caged.
At the Warri axis in Delta State, there has been no love lost for decades between Tompolo’s kinsmen of the Gbaramatu kingdom and the neighbouring Itsekiris with whom they had traded armed tackles in bloody confrontations that consumed thousands of lives and some villages over land and sundry disputes.
Thus, while he wielded power and dictated the pace of events, some leading elites of the Itsekiri nationality literarily wallowed in pain and never hid their anger, but rather directed their verbal arrows at ex-President Jonathan whom they vowed not to support for a second term at Aso Villa.
This resolve was re-affirmed barely a month to the February 14, 2015 general elections when an Itsekiri pressure group, the Itsekiri Consolidated Movement (ICM) at a press briefing in Ubeji-Warri, justified why their kinsmen would rather vote for the then presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd), asserting that their interests would be better served in an APC-led government.
“In as much as we believe Tompolo has the constitutional right to campaign for President Goodluck Jonathan and Senator Ifeanyi Okowa/Kingsley Otuaro, his cousin, we want to assure Tompolo that his voyage is set to hit the rock, particularly on Jonathan’s re-election bid,” it declared.
Interestingly, while several scenarios had played out before and immediately after the 2015 presidential election which signposted an impending end to his power and influence with the defeat of ex-President Jonathan at the polls, Tompolo was said to be unwavering in the belief of his rise from obscurity to fame as a manifestation of destiny.
His conviction may have been further boosted as he was reportedly privileged to hold a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari shortly after his election. It could not be confirmed at whose instance the discussions were held, but a close associate of the ex-warlord hinted that after the meeting described as private, Tompolo returned to his home in Delta State fulfilled, and in high spirits.
“When Buhari came in, he met with Tompolo, who pledged to work with him. He even assured him that he was going to assist the Federal Government in tackling the crises in the Niger Delta. The meeting was successful, and Tompolo returned home a happy and hopeful man.
But that hope seems to have evaporated with the changing times, and Tompolo is, again, cladding a garment he had discarded several years ago. The difference, however, is that while he had no qualms surrendering to the Federal Government in exchange for presidential pardon during the late President Yar’Adua’s short-lived administration, he appears to foresees danger signals this time around with the manner the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, was being managed and is unwilling to take what he perceives as an injustice from the APC-led Buhari administration.
The ex-warlord had once expressed fears over his safety during his battle with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. “I know why they are after me”, he had averred.
“It’s about oil politics. Tompolo had long been seen as a threat to the northerners who feel that the oil in the Niger Delta belongs to them. Even the oil blocks that they buy, they do not consider the interest of the oil bearing communities, a situation Tompolo had been kicking against especially during the administration of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan when he became very influential and powerful.
However, apparently overwhelmed by emotions in one of his low moments, the former warlord had one remarked: “As a full blooded Ijaw man and citizen of Nigeria, I have done everything in my power to follow the laws of Nigeria. Since the amnesty declared in 2009 by late President Yar’ Adua, I have strained myself to ensure that we all live in peace in this country. Those who think they can push us to war must rethink the necessity of such a war”.
