By the time you are reading this, High Chief Government Ekpemupolo might have submitted himself to the men of the Nigerian security agencies for alleged economic and other financial crimes committed against the Nigerian nation or he might have been ferried out of the creeks by security agents, who are hot on his heels, or as it is being suspected in security quarters, he might have found his way out of the country. For this ex-militant warlord, indeed, the chicken has come home to roost.

Flashback to 2007
It was at the height of disdain for constituted authority. Then Vice-President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan was forced to visit High Chief Government Ekpemupolo a.k.a Tompolo at his own Kalakuta republic called Camp Five.  The vice-president came with a retinue of aides and two serving state governors – Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta and Chief Timipre Sylva of Bayelsa – the home state of the number two citizen.

Included in the team to discuss bilateral issues with the then 35 years old secondary school dropout were serving generals of the Nigerian Army, Navy and the Police and several security agents. At the borders of camp five, the words came that Tompolo has ordered that, all security personnel attached to the Vice President must not enter his republic. But after a few moments of negotiations, it was agreed that the soldiers, Naval and State Security Service (SSS) personnel attached to the Vice President can enter the republic but, without their weapons.

And to the surprise and shock of everybody present, that was what happened – they all dropped their weapons at the say so of militants! They left their weapons at the care of camp five guerrillas before they could go in to meet the commander in-chief of the republic, who is also known as the General Officer Commanding (GOC), General Tompolo.

Yes, the vice-president was left at the mercy of a militant without any security cover. If this was humiliating, the worst is yet to come.
On being introduced to Tompolo, the vice president extended his hands for a handshake, but Tompolo told the Vice President to keep his hands as it is a taboo in his republic to shake hands with any public office holder, even if the person is the second in command of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Everyone, including the journalists on the vice-president’s entourage was repulsed. Some of them wondered aloud what gives this young man so much audacity. After the public session, the vice-president entered into a private meeting with Tompolo before leaving for Abuja. This was in 2007.

The Man Tompolo
Tompolo was a creation of the some Ijaw youth leaders like Kingsley Kuku, who later became presidential adviser on Niger Delta; Frank Omare, a former commissioner in the government of Chief James Ibori; Dr. Uduaghan; Dr. Bello Oboko and Kingsley Otuaro, the Deputy Governor of Delta State. He came to prominence at the height of the Niger Delta crisis, earning himself the reputation of a ruthless scalp hunter and a good commander in the battle front during the fratricidal war with the neighbouring Itsekiri people.

When these persons moved into government, they needed someone to hold forth in the battle field and Tompolo was handy. But because of his low level of education and non-existent intellectual grasp of situation, they invited Dr. Bello Oboko to take over as President of the Federation of Niger Delta Ijaw Communities (FNDIC), the organ through which they propagate their activities.

Before then, other leaders like Omare and Kuku had withdrawn from the FNDIC as its activities had been narrowed down to becoming Gbaramatu mouthpiece. These leaders continued to mystify him and before long, he became a Frankenstein monster and beyond their control. Soon, the falcon suddenly refused to listen to the voice of the falconer. Tompolo had become the more daring and certainly beyond their control.

With the support of some foreigners, he acquired barges with which he siphoned crude oil from broken pipes belonging to Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) and Chevron Nigerian Limited (CNL), the two companies operating in the Gbaramatu territory.

It got to a point that the two companies, despite paying Tompolo monthly “Deve” levy running to several millions came into agreement with him, whereby valves were dedicated to him to pump as much crude oil as he possibly can, provided he stops breaking pipes, a situation which results in massive oil spillages that pollute the environment.

Despite this, Tompolo’s boys started stopping cargo ship going to the Warri ports from passing through the Escravos bar unless they were paid millions of naira as protection fee.

He became more daring when he blew the pipelines supplying the Warri and Kaduna refineries with crude feedstock at Chanomi creek in January 2006.

Tompolo’s Boys had blown up a lot of oil installations and kidnapped 10 expatriate oil industry workers following an attack on camp five and Okerenkoko by the Joint Task Force (JTF).  So daring was he that the Chief Olusegun Obasanjo government had to remove the Commander of the JTF, Brig. Gen. Elias Zamani, just to please Tompolo.

Soon, an aura of invisibility started to grow around him and he was so dreaded that the NNPC could not mobilise a contractor to repair the Chanomi Creek pipeline simply because Camp five had become a no-go-area for any and everyone.  The pipeline was only repaired after the repair work was awarded to a Tompolo nominated contractor at a staggering $57 million.

A few months later, when he needed more money, he blew the lines again and the repair works was awarded to the same contractor for $4.6 million. He was so pampered by the Delta State Government that it acceded to his demand that his brother be the chairman of Warri South West local government area.  But as the saying goes: “Those the gods want to kill, they first make made.”  Tompolo became swollen headed and the world at his feet.

Fast Forward to 2016
The road to perfidy began the moment he decided to blow up the same pipelines, passing through his former camp five in order to force the hand of the federal government into negotiation over his invitation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over allegations that he was involved in fraudulent multibillion naira contracts.

In a 40-count charge, the EFCC alleged that Tompolo and others were accused of laundering billions of naira, being proceeds of stolen and official corruption. Tompolo has never been around to take his plea.

Following the President Umar Musa Yar’Adua’s amnesty to militants to drop their arms and embrace amnesty, Tompolo had heeded the call. Very soon, he became a power broker both at the state and federal level, where his fellow Ijaw kinsman, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan had divinely become the president following the death of Yar’Adua.

It was Tompolo, who not only recommended his friend, Dr. Patrick Akpobolokemi as the director general of the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), but he it was that ensured the emergence of his cousin Kingsley Otuaro as the deputy governor of Delta state.

Basking in his new found rapport with the Jonathan government, Tompolo soon became the overlord of the activities of NIMASA, a cash cow for him as others. Following this, Tompolo, Akpobolokemi and others were charged to court to answer to allegations made against him. But Tompolo has since been nowhere to be found.

As it was in 2007, Tompolo was said to have resorted to blowing up pipelines as a way of forcing the hands of the federal government to the negotiation table in order to avoid prosecution from the law. This was the situation when Tompolo called for a meeting of the former militant generals of the defunct Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa state capital to discuss issues relating to his problems with the law enforcement agencies.

But he was quickly rebuffed by the ex-MEND leaders, principally, Chief Africanus Africanus Ukparasia, popularly known as General Africa, the only one of the ex- agitators who is known to confront Tompolo. The two leaders have never agreed on issues. And following the invitation from the EFCC, Africa has dared Tompolo to deny bombing the oil pipeline in Gbaramatu kingdom of Delta State.

Africa in a statement personally signed said he has it on good authority that Tompolo bombed the pipeline to spite and dare the federal government from arresting and prosecuting him.  He noted that Tompolo and General Shoot-at-Sight, another militant ex-warlord based in the creeks of riverine areas of Ondo State conspired to bomb the pipelines to send a message that they have the capacity to disrupt oil production and therefore cripple the economy of the country.

Africa stated that Tompolo was supplied with 19 metal outboard boats, while Shoot-at-Sight was supplied with six metal outboard boats prepared in Ayetoro community in Ilaje-Eseodo Local Government Area of Ondo State. The boats, he stressed, are mounted with double 200 Horse-powered engines each costing Tompolo and Shoot-at-Sight N1.2 million without the engines.

He also stated that Tompolo and Shoot-at-Sight have been busy recruiting boys with the aim of causing widespread damage to the economy of the country as well as a resurgence of the armed struggle in the Niger Delta. According to him, the camp, where the boys are currently being kept is located in Akanapu after Bolowo community and before Ajapa Town in Ese-Odo Local Government Area of Ondo State.

He averred that the camp is close to a military check-point in the creek and youths being sent to the camp are not allowed to go home or use phones and cameras in the camp to take pictures. Africa warned that any attempt to commence another round of militancy in the Niger Delta was a selfish agenda and called on the security agencies to quell it immediately.

He warned Tompolo that this time around, he will not have the opportunity of hiding from the federal forces in his vessel like he did the last time, when the federal troops ordered by the late President Yar’adua went after him.  Africa also offered to assist the federal security agencies to fish Tompolo out from his hideout to face prosecution.

He noted that Tompolo has since defeated their purpose for taking up arms against the federal government in the first place, as he has chosen to pursue a selfish agenda by blowing-up pipelines, thereby degrading the already devastated environment to further impoverish the suffering masses of the region, who depend on the environment for their daily bread.  He also advised him to hand himself in to face prosecution since he was convinced that he did nothing wrong.

Today, Tompolo is on the run. How long can he run? Nobody can say. Tompolo can only run but he cannot hide. With the recent attack on the oil pipelines, the enigmatic Tompolo has suddenly become a fugitive from the law with no home. He now sleeps among the reptiles and rodents in the creeks of the Niger Delta in a bid to escape the long arm of the law.

Thisday…..

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