EFCC GIVES "TOMPOLO" ONE WEEK TO APPEAR BEFORE THE COMMISSION OR RISK BEING WANTED

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has given former Niger Delta militant leader, Mr Government Ekpemupolo a.k.a Tompolo one week to appear before the Commission on Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, Lagos or risk being declared wanted.
In a letter from the EFCC, the Commission says it is investigating Tompolo for unclear dealings involving the sale of parcels of land worth about 13 billion naira to the federal government under the last administration. He is expected to appear at the EFCC training room on Thursday, December 17. A similar invitation was extended to Tompolo in November by the Head of Operations at the EFCC, Iliasu Kwabai but he failed to appear and no correspondence was received from him.

Government Ekpemupolo a.k.a. Tompolo, a former militant has risen to become a strong ally of the federal government, and a billionaire businessman especially under the goodluck administration. Only three years ago, he was a fugitive. In May 2009, Brigadier-General Sarkin Yaki Bello, commander of the Joint Military Task Force, JTF, in Niger Delta, had declared Government Ekpemupolo the most wanted man in Nigeria and his band of militants in the Gbaramutu creeks of the Niger Delta as executed the killing of 11 soldiers – one officer and 10 junior men. It was just one of the many instances of the militants’ atrocities.
The militants had been running riot in the Niger Delta, perpetrating illegitimate bunkering, operating illegal refineries, vandalising oil pipelines, engaging in kidnapping and doing piracy. And Tompolo was in the thick of it as one of the leaders. The JTF was intent on doing him in. Tompolo did not only becomea free man, he became untouchable by the goodluck administration that only five years ago, considered him an arch enemy deserving of extermination. Despite his violent past and little education, he is one of the most influential Nigerians today. There is no doubt that he is very close to President Goodluck Jonathan. To ascertain this, Jonathan's government invested the Global West Vessel Specialist Limited, GWVSL, a firm widely believed to be owned by Tompolo, with a contract worth $103.4 million (over N15 billion) to supply 20 vessels for the use of the nation’s military authorities to secure the waterways. Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, Ziadeke Akpobolokemi, back then sent a memo titled, “Award of Contract for the Strategic Concessioning Partnership with NIMASA to Provide Platforms for Tracking Ships and Cargoes, Enforce Regulatory Compliance and Surveillance Of The Entire Nigerian Maritime Domain,” to President Goodluck Jonathan. In considering the memo, President Goodluck Jonathan and Akpobolokemi chose GWVSL as the preferred company for the 10-year concession agreement. The concession is renewable for two terms of five years each. Jonathan, in a memo dated 9 November 2011, with reference number PRES/99/MT/61, approved Akpobolokemi’s memo, which the Federal Executive Council rubber-stamped on 5 January 2012. N124bn was generated in revenue to the federal government by GWVSL which Jonathan sent a memo to the National Assembly, urging it to discountenance an earlier one submitted by the late President Umaru Yar’Adua. Yar’Adua’s memo sought to create a coastal guard, comprising all security agencies, to man the country’s maritime domain. President Jonathan, Akpobolokemi and Tompolo are from the Niger Delta, whose people have for many years been expressing infuriating that they are being oppressed despite the fact that the geographical area produces the oil that enriches Nigeria. More importantly GWVSL was a private company that provided the entire $103.4mn fund for the exercise it recouped the investment from surpassing NIMASA’s annual revenue collection profile. “Under the NIMASA Act, it is empowered to take charge of administration and the safety of our waters. And under the same Act, NIMASA has been empowered to carry out its functions, duties and responsibilities either by itself or through any institution of government or in partnership with any agency of government or through or in partnership with any natural person or limited liability company like the Global West Limited which has now entered into a partnership with NIMASA”. Critics, mostly northern leaders, accused the then President Jonathan of secretly pursuing an ethnic agenda and wondered why what they called a sensitive contract that borders on national security should be handed to a private company. The disenchanted leaders cited the abrupt deployment of former Minister of Transport, Yusuf Suleiman to the Ministry of Sports for once querying Akpobolokemi over the Tompolo issue. Suleiman eventually lost his job as Transport Minister for speaking up. 

Gradually, Tompolo’s fame as a vicious war general but a principled and magnanimous leader to his forces spread through the creeks. He had moved back to Okerenkoko to establish Camp 5 as his headquarters. Camp 5 was originally a private property called “Abuja” in the neighborhood from where he and his colleagues started the struggle. And gradually, the money began to flow in – from the various rackets of political and corporate protection, to illegal oil bunkering. He was effectively leader of the Delta State and of the Niger Delta militants’ battle against oppression. As Convener of the Ijaw Youth Leadership Forum, IYLF, the umbrella body of all Ijaw young militants, Tompolo was, and is said to still be, providing mentorship and logistic support for all members. Across Delta State, he contributed to strengthening other militant groups. One example was Mujahid Dokubo Asari’s Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force, NDPVF, to which Tompolo not only provided field fighters but also supplied the necessary arms and ammunition that ensured Asari’s successful commencement of his military campaign against oil installations.

Tompolo’s intervention also helped to check the rampaging influence of Ateke Tom’s Icelander Group.Tompolo’s profile and stature soared in 2006 when he gathered his fellow group leaders from across the Niger Delta at Camp 5 to accord their struggle a definite name and platform. Besides, the new platform was meant to be immediately used to press for the release of Asari and Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, the former Bayelsa State governor, both of who were incarcerated by the federal government. So it was at Camp 5, Tompolo’s headquarters, that the Movement of the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, was formed. So if any of the groups attacked any oil installation or kidnapped any figure, it was MEND that would admit responsibility for the act. By 2009, Tompolo had amassed so much influence in Niger Delta affairs that even powerful figures in the zone looked up to him for economic and political empowerment. Reliable Niger Delta sources affirmed that his influence sustained his kinsman, Chief Wellington Okrika as Executive Chairman of the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, DESOPADEC, for so long. Tompolo was also said to have virtually single-handedly enthroned Godwin Bebenimibo, a retired Superintendent of Police, as Gbaran III Agadagba, the traditional ruler of the Gbaramatu kingdom.