Emma Amaize, Regional Editor, South South

GENERAL” Tompolo  evoked apprehension  in both the militant world and security circle until last two years, 2009, when the former leader of the Movement for  the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND,  along with other ex militatns embraced the Federal Government amnesty programme.

His word was like law in the world of militants then and he was greatly respected. Some of his boys believed that the 43 year old warlord was  indestructible and could disappear in the face of danger with his powerful protection from Egbesu, the Ijaw god of war.

Indeed, throughout the manhnut for him in 2009 by the JTF, nobody saw him and notwithstanding the claim by the task force that they were closing in on him, he was never found until he voluntarily decided to give himself up by accepting amnesty in Abuja.

Tompolo, whose real name is Government Ekpemupolo never hid the fact that he is  the founder of MEND.  He told newsmen after a meeting of ex militant leaders with President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja over the October 2010 Independence Day bomb blasts, “We want to   say sorry. I am the leader of MEND by the grace of God and everybody you see here is not part of what happened. I am the owner of MEND.”

Before he surrendered his arms and ammunition in 2009, Tompolo, was the commander of one of the strongest militant camps in the Niger Delta, Camp Five, located in Gbaramatu kingdom, Warri South West Local Government of Delta State, which had branches in other parts of the state and Niger Delta region.

It took a sustained aerial bombardment from the Joint Task Force, JTF, led by one of the country’s best trained warfare expert, General Sarkin Bello for Camp Five to fall after the full compliments of the national military arsenal was arrayed at the militant camp over the killing of some JTF soldiers by overzealous Tompolo boys.

That chapter ended in 2009 and Tompolo, a high chief of Gbaramatu kingdom, is one of the arrow heads of the Federal Government’s peace efforts in the Niger Delta region and also in his home state, Delta, where he is sufficiently strong to pull a number of strings in the government of Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan.

The goings on for Tompolo since then , despite the razing of the Oporoza palace of the royal father of his kingdom in the manhunt for him, have not been bad for the former warlord. He had secured a mouth watering pipeline surveillance contract from the Federal Government and is living self effacingly.

However, the ex militant leader  had cause recently to tighten security around himself. It is not that kidnappers are after him for ransom or that the  families of those who were killed by him or by his boys in his militant days were after his life. In fact, he is being haunted by those that could not have dared him in his active days.

The incredible  story is that crude oil  thieves in Delta State have declared war on  Tompolo for allegedly stopping them from engaging in their trade.

It was gathered that a top member of the oil theft syndicate in Gbaramatu, an Ijaw kingdom in Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State stormed the Oporoza country home of Tompolo, to allegedly shoot him.

He was, however, overpowered by some ex militants, who warned him of the futility of fighting their master simply because the ex militant leader was crusading against oil theft in the state.

Following the incident, Tompolo has beefed up his  security with specific orders on when and how visitors should be allowed to see him.

A source close to Tompolo, who confirmed the botched attack said, “Since the government gave him a pipeline surveillance contract, he has been doing his best to ensure that crude oil theft is eradicated if not reduced in the area, but the boys are stubborn.

“He knows the people that are involved in the business and their sponsors.  What happened is that he had gone around the different communities where people are engaged in crude oil theft to tell them to stop the business as government is against it but some of them feel that it is not in his place to disturb them.

Tompolo

“The fact is that apart from the economic implication of their activities, they do not even know the harm they are doing to the environment. However, they said they do not want to see Tompolo and he should not come to the river again to disturb them in his own interest”, he added.

It was, however, gathered that the stand of the syndicate was that if Tompolo had been given a pipeline surveillance contract, he should collect his money and mind his business, as anything short of that, will be an open war against him.

The renewed battled against crude oil thieves operating in the mangrove creeks of the region by the Federal Government started last month when the Joint Task Force, code-named Operation Restore Hope was rechristened Operation Pulo Shield and mandated to block oil leakages and draining of the nation’s economy.

Since January 9 when the reorganization took effect, the task force has cracked down on crude oil thieves in the region, making a lot of arrests and seizure of crude oil theft equipment.

Shell raised the alarm  last  Monday over repeated damage to a key pipeline in southern Nigeria by what it said were thieves seeking to siphon crude for sale in the lucrative black market.

The Anglo Dutch oil giant said the Nembe Creek Trunkline had been hit by an increased number of attacks by thieves “barely 16 months after the old line was replaced due to repeated sabotage attacks.”

While highly organised crude theft  locally called “bunkering” has long been a major problem in Nigeria, authorities have warned that the practice has been on the rise.

It involves thieves tapping pipelines to siphon off oil either to be sold as crude or to be treated at makeshift refineries. The oil is often directed towards waiting vessels.

On the 24th of December last year, the line was shut down because of leaks caused by two failed bunkering points, and since repairs were completed, more than 50 theft valves have been discovered,” a Shell statement said. “In one case, some 17 illegal bunkering points were found within a distance of 3.8 kilometres.”

Mutiu Sunmonu, head of Shell’s Nigerian joint venture SPDC, said in the statement that “the level of crude theft at NCTL can no longer be tolerated.It is difficult to sustain production in the circumstance as we have to shut down when a facility trips and fix the cause before restarting,” he said. “This happened three times just between the 26th and 30th of January.”

Shell resumed production on the line January 23 after repairs due to the December incident, which led it to declare “force majeure,” a legal term indicating it may not meet contractual obligations due to events beyond its control.
The line’s current daily output is 140,000 barrels per day, Shell said.

Shell says the vast majority of oil spills in recent years in the oil producing Niger Delta region, badly hit by years of pollution, have been caused by sabotage, theft and illegal refining.

However, activists say Shell has not done enough to prevent such spills, and a UN report issued last year took Shell’s Nigerian joint venture to task over oil pollution.

The report said Shell’s procedures for control and maintenance of infrastructure had not been followed and spills had also not been sufficiently cleaned.