Ibekimi Oriamaja Reports
Some masked militants, claiming to be from the states of Rivers and Bayelsa, have threatened the Federal Government, Timipre Sylva, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Limited, over the recent awarding of a pipeline surveillance contract to an ex-militant leader named Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, and others.
In a widely shared video, the militants’ self-styled “General Sempe,” who spoke in English, and another, who spoke Ijaw, questioned why Tompolo in Delta State should receive a surveillance contract for a pipeline in a community in Rivers State when two other militant leaders, Mujahid Dokubo-Asari and Ateke Tom, were natives of the region.
In the video, they avoided using Tompolo’s name and instead used the phrase “someone who is in Oporoza.”
They were cautioned to go back their previous steps by the Ijaw Peoples Development Initiative, IPDI, a Niger Delta organization that had previously identified the sponsors of the masked militants.
In the film, the militants specifically addressed Sylva, saying: “What you are trying to do in the Niger Delta is to generate anarchy, especially in Ijaw land. We reject it because you are attempting to create misunderstanding, thus it won’t work.
“A particular town has 83 kilometers in it, and the NTCL line is nearly 90 kilometers long. When we have people like the former IYC president, Dokubo-Asari, and Ateke Tom, you did not offer any of them the job; instead, you went and grabbed this post from someone who is in Oporoza because you want to conspire with him and eat the money.
“I, General Yipen, even if the leaders accept it, I will not accept it because you attempted it in oil and gas and succeeded, we did not talk to you, and I will not accept it.
“You assume we are David Lyon, a politician you supported, whose contract you took over and transferred to your brother when he lost the election so that you wouldn’t be left holding the bag.
“My brother, please hear me out. You cannot try it; however, if you do, please hear me out. This is the pipeline; if you believe your people can come, please do so. The goal outweighs the means.
We are aware of the ex-militant leaders in Rivers State who are behind the surfacing masked up militants parading with weapons to issue false threats against Tompolo, according to IPDI National President Austin Ozobo, who accused the leaders of the youngsters’ sponsorship.
