From: favour chinaza <favonoxy@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 23 Feb 2016 07:44:22 +0100
Subject: To Buhari You Can Brand Tompolo Criminal But Ijaws Honour Him
—chief Gbenekam
To: mchinoxy.skybasedchinoxy@blogger.com
WARRI — IJAW leader and Ibibenimowe (Chief Mobilizer) of
Gbaramatu Kingdom, Warri South-West Local Government
Area, Delta State, Chief Godspower Gbenekama, says people
could call the former Niger Delta militant leader, Government
Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, a criminal, but to the
Gbaramatu-Ijaw man, he is more than a leader.
*Tompolo
"People can call Tompolo, the Ibe-ebidouwei of Ijaw nation
(Someone who wants the good of Ijaw nation) criminal or
somebody, who has eaten all the federal government's
money, but at home in Gbaramatu, he is still revered. They
(Tompolo and Federal Government) were business partners;
they should settle the issue amicably instead of dragging
everybody into it," Gbenekama stated in the concluding part
of his interview, last week, with Niger Delta Voice in Warri.
Emblem of Ijaw struggle
His words: "For me Tompolo is more than a Gbaramatu
leader. He is a symbol of Ijaw struggle. He has tried his level
best to attract development to our area. He is also standing
in for federal government as far as vandalisation and crimes
in the waterways are concerned. I stand in solidarity with
him.
"That is not to say I condone illegality. He has made
enemies in the course of fighting for federal government. If
you have issues with him, sort them out amicably so that the
people in Gbaramatu do not have to suffer. They can look
for soft landing for him. That is what we are saying.
Gbenekama noted, "When these business transactions were
on, I was no party to it, but I know that this young man
made a lot of enemies so that what is happening could as
well be the handiwork of those bent on getting their pound
of flesh."
According to him, "He (Tompolo) actually frustrated the
economic lives of some people who were criminals; I stand
in solidarity with him. He has also said he would respect the
law under a due process. It is for the federal government to
keep faith and make him believe there is no hidden agenda
in this whole saga. Because what we find these days is
somebody arrested for one thing, tomorrow, 1001 extraneous
things come up and you are not given the right freedom."
Tompolo fought oil thieves.
The Ijaw leader, who urged the Olu of Warri, Ogiame
Ikenwoli I, in the first part of the interview to call the
Ajuwaoyiboyami of Warri Kingdom, Chief Ayirimi Emami, aka
Akulagba, to order, remarked: "The Tompolo that is now a
bad boy in the eyes of the Federal Government helped the
Delta Waterways Security Committee to succeed. "
"People that he could listen to and people that could listen
to him were in that committee. Are we not aware of the fact
that even when Ayiri was the committee chair, Tompolo was
going about burning and destroying illegal refineries, boats,
chasing illegal bunkering syndicates and all that?
"Besides, any perceived success recorded by his (Ayiri's)
committee could not have been by his input alone. As far as
am concerned, Tompolo has assisted every agency
concerned with bringing sanity to the waterways and he is
still assisting until tomorrow. It could not have been Ayiri
alone.
"All of us worked to ensure peace and security reigns in that
axis, I was born and have lived in that area; I have never
seen any of these people claiming credit on security in the
area come near our kingdom. I only see the aura and power
of Tompolo ensuring that people were not stealing,
kidnapping or cooking illegal oil arbitrarily," he said.
On the current fate of the Nigerian Maritime University, NMU,
Okerenkoko, does he entertain fears about the Federal
Government's Gas City project at Ogidgiben and Gbaramatu
Sea Port, especially with the Ijaw/Itsekiri rancon, he said,
"The Gas City in Madangho (Itsekiri) and Deep Sea Port
(Gbaramatu), two arms of the Export Processing Zone, EPZ
projects are good to go.
"The Interface Committee for Ugborodo and that of
Gbaramatu agree on how the stakes should be. Those
fomenting trouble should be prepared for a backlash on any
disruptions they are bringing into the project."
Conspiratorial alliance'll fail
According to him: "The purported inflammatory news on the
Marine University in Gbaramatu, if it is being dreamt in the
coven must not be allowed to happen in the real world.
Niger Deltans, Ijaw, nay Gbaramatu people say that this
government does not have Niger Delta at heart. How do you
explain that a school approved to have commenced
September, last year, with a temporary site in place, whose
permanent site is already under construction, is now
removed or relocated to where we do not know?"
"I do not know how the Minister for Transport transformed
into Minister for Information that now announces such
inflammatory news. That school will bring development,
education, civilization, employment and empowerment to
Gbaramatu, the immediate host, its environs, Delta state and
Nigerian at large. We are crying about employment, and this
is happening, the university is another way of stopping
pipeline vandalism because an idle mind, they say, is the
devil's workshop.
Gbenekama, however, dismissed the fear of troublemakers
putting the EPZ project on hold, saying, "Gbaramatu and
Ugborodo are bigger than any individual on this matter.
Those making it look as if we are at war over this project
should be careful what they wish for themselves. We
maintain that the Itsekiri monarch should call those making
trouble to order."
No comments:
Post a Comment