PIPELINE ATTACKS: TOMPOLO SLAMS MILITARY OVER RAID ON NIGER-DELTA COMMUNITY

Former Niger-Delta militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo, also known as Tompolo has slammed the Nigerian Army over the raid in Oporoza community in the Gabaramatu Kingdom of Delta State.

The military had raided the community in search of the militant group, the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) who claimed responsibility for the attacks on oil pipelines in the Niger Delta region.


In a statement released on Monday, Tompolo said, ‘‘I wish to humbly express my disappointment and displeasure with the Federal Government and the Nigerian Military on the continuous siege on me and Gbaramatu Communities under the guise of looking for members of the nascent Niger Delta Avengers.’’

The Niger Delta Avengers which has claimed responsibility for some of the attacks on major installations in the oil-rich Niger Delta region, has come under intense scrutiny of the Nigerian military and efforts are being made to put their activities to check.

The army on Monday said it had arrested members of the group.

The Avengers, who say they are fighting for a greater share of oil profits, an end to pollution and independence for the swampy southern region, last week warned oil firms to leave before the end of the month.

Pipeline attacks and violence have risen in Nigeria’s oil rich region since authorities issued an arrest warrant in January for Tompolo on corruption charges.

Earlier this Month, Tompolo denied being part of the Niger Delta avengers.

He resounded that denouncement in the statement he released.

‘’ I am greatly touched and disappointed with the manner the Nigerian Government and the Military is being arm-twisted by the unfounded claims that I am behind the Niger Delta Avengers group, when there is no single proof to back the claim…It baffles me that the Nigerian military has refused to believe me that I am not part of the group and its activities’’.
He blamed his current troubles on Nigerian Businessman, Ayiri Emami.

‘‘Ayiri Emami and others accusing me of the destruction of oil facilities in part of the Delta are simply looking for relevance, recognition and pipeline surveillance contracts. If anyone doubts what I am saying, such should find out from the GMD and Minister for State for Petroleum, because Ayiri and his likes have been troubling the Minister for pipeline surveillance contracts for some time now’’.

‘‘It would be recalled that when I had the one year pipeline surveillance contract in Delta State, Ayiri Emami was one of the directors of the company (Oil Facility Surveillance Limited) in 2012. He could not protect the oil facilities in his beat, and so I was the one that was equally doing his job. It is on record and the authorities of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) can bear me witness that even those in Bayelsa (Pajeros Nigeria Limited) and Rivers (Adef Energy Resoures Nigeria Limited) that had similar surveillance jobs like me, could not protect the oil facilities in their respective states.’’

Since the attack on the Forcados plant, several attacks have followed suit in the region.

The hits follow years of relative calm in the country’s oil-producing region after a 2009 amnesty halted a spate of attacks on oil installations and kidnappings of expatriate workers.

Following the amnesty, many former militant leaders enriched themselves through lucrative pipeline protection contracts under previous president Goodluck Jonathan but oil theft reached an industrial scale.

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