Ibekimi Oriamaja Reports
Amalgamated Arewa Youth Groups-led protesters stormed the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited’s offices Wednesday, calling for the cancellation of a lucrative pipeline deal given to former militant commander Government Ekpemupolo (popularly known as Tompolo).
The protesters, a coalition of 225 youth organizations in the North, threatened to halt operations at the NNPC headquarters if the contract is not terminated within seven days.
The demonstrators waved banners with slogans like “revoke the pipeline contract now,” “How can a fugitive be in command of national assets,” and “Chief of Defence Staff militarizing other zones but romancing Niger Delta militants.”
The contract implied that “a private citizen like Tompolo will be allowed to handle not just light but sophisticated weapons to be able to ward off potential attacks from vicious oil bunkering cartels,” according to Victor Duniya, a spokesperson for the groups.
Tompolo, the commander of the disbanded Movement for Emancipation of the Niger Delta, has had his multimillion dollar pipeline surveillance contract with the Federal Government extended (MEND).
According to Duniya, the development takes place as the North is suffering greatly as a result of terrorist elements’ operations and teenagers are not permitted to obtain guns to protect their neighborhoods.
Therefore, he demanded that President Muhammadu Buhari dismiss Timipre Sylva, the Minister of State for Petroleum, Mele Kyari, the Chief Executive Officer of NNPC Ltd., and Adokiye Tombomelye, the Group Executive Director, Upstream, for their roles in the contracting processes.
We are aware that Tomopolo and his boys are among the principal beneficiaries of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), which the late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s administration extended to the unruly youths of the Niger Delta.
“As of now, alleged ex-agitators are being funded to top institutions, some are receiving training to advance their careers, and those who already have successful enterprises are continuously being given more power.”
