By EMMA AMAIZE, Regional Editor, South-South
The “generalissimo,” in this second part of the interview opens up on his controversial contract with the Federal Government; why the nation’s oil cabal is after him, and how he plans to stop them from looting the country’s resources and lots more.  Excerpts.

THE commander then, Major-General Sarkin-Bello did say when the hunt for you was on that he would like to see you eventually to know who you are and what gave you the guts to do what you were doing then. When both of you finally met, what was it like?

I think we met at Oporoza and embraced. He apologized to me, saying that he was sorry for all that happened. As I am here, I am a Christian, Muslim  and a Traditionalist, three in one, yes. I told him that people misled him, which he realized and apologized to me. I said no problem.  Till date, we are very close friends and he is now saying a lot of good things about Tompolo.

Who arranged this meeting between the late President Yar’Adua and you? What did he say to you at that meeting and what did you tell him?

You know, I will not go into details, but when I met the late President and he asked me what I wanted for the government to solve the problem once and for all, I told him that what I wanted was for government to develop the Niger-Delta. At the same time, I asked that he should make us feel that we are part of this country because we are producing the resources that sustain the country. I told him that when people pray, they say in the name of the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit and that what this  means is that you cannot do without the Holy Spirit. Thus when we are discussing Nigeria, we are the Holy Spirit and  there is nothing good he can achieve without taking us along.

Who are you talking about here?

Ijaw people, I mean Niger-Delta people, which he totally agreed with. He told me, my brother, Tompolo, I will work with you, you are the leader of your people, I am not saying that you are the President, but I will tell my ADC, my CSO, whatever place you want to go, I will provide security. You can fly with my private jet because I told him that I know the in and out of this country.

Pipeline protection

I know how people are looting this country. If we want to work together and my people are part of the government, then I will do everything to assist him. It was there and then I even told him that the first thing to do is to engage up to 30,000 youths for this pipeline protection job. It was Yar’Adua who asked me in the presence of the governor of Delta state, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, that I should go and arrange for a company. He said that even if I don’t have money, he would provide money, that I should go and partner with Israelis or anybody and that we should start with that one. It was there that he gave me 40 mobile policemen and four SSS operatives. I told him that I have no place to stay and that I am okay with 10 policemen and 1 SSS. So, the security people I am using today were given to me by Yar’Adua, but some people said that it is because Jonathan is president today. Let me tell you, I cannot even make demands for certain things because Jonathan is president because if I do, people will say it is because he is the president. From what I discussed and agreed with Yar’Adua, he said if people  have 10 oil blocs in other places, he would give 15 oil blocs to my people, the people of the Niger-Delta.

Promise to the late president

That is what the man said and
I agreed with him that I will do everything to make peace reign. He asked me to promise him that after this one, I will not do anything to hurt the country. I gave a promise to the late President. If not, if anybody is doing anything to my people, I know that the God of yesterday is still the God of today. So, I know that I can  protect the interest of our people.

You accepted amnesty and Henry Okah, who was being held then in Nigeria after his deportation was released by the Federal Government after he signed undertaking for amnesty. He  met you before he went back to South-Africa, where he was arrested again over a similar offence. What did you and Okah discuss during his visit to you because he fell into the same ambush afresh?

You know, the reasoning of everybody is not the same, people reason in different ways. Some people,  till now, are thinking that we will not achieve anything reasonable with the amnesty, though Jonathan is the president today.

And if he does anything for Niger-Delta, they will say because he is the president, a lot of people were of the opinion that since we accepted amnesty, the N1.5 billion that was to be paid to the people of Bayelsa State has not been paid, so we should continue with the struggle. As we speak, the Supreme Court had since ruled in favour of Shell on the matter and the money is not forthcoming. So, he (Okah) was of the opinion that if we fall back, we will not get anything reasonable in the end. He thinks there is need for our people to continue flying the flag.

But in the process, a lot of people said no, let us give them one to two years first and he left. You know, there are a lot of hungry people who  if given two, three, four guns,  can go and do anything in the name of MEND. Just like if we were not careful, criminals almost hijacked the struggle, it was my efforts and few others, during the time of Zamani as JTF commander that the late John Togo was arrested. The judiciary got him released after he had killed more than 50 people. He said it openly, but later, because they wanted to use him for something, they released him.

What is your relationship today with other ex-militant generals like Alhaji Dokubo-Asari, Ateke Tom, Boyloaf, etc. I ask this because I learnt that a number of them are not happy with the way the peace process is going. Do you interact with them? Do you think they are happy?

You know, from what is going on with Jonathan as president of this country, it does not mean that we have got everything. But even at that, we still need to give them some time, but for people to actually develop the Niger-Delta, it will take some time.

Looking at the environment

Before investors will come in, they will still look at the environment, how peace is reigning. So, I am talking to them to give Jonathan some time, manage whatever that we have today and to wait for when good things will come. Well, even if they are not happy, everybody is saying: let us try to wait for some time.

What led to the bombardment of Camp 5 and invasion of Gbaramatu kingdom was the killing of some soldiers by your boys, but you were said to have had a cordial working accord with soldiers before that time, what really went wrong?

The truth is just like I said earlier, I know a lot of people, both in the Christian and Muslim world and everybody that I happened to have sat with or discussed with, I explained what we are passing through. I also tried to invite some of them to see what we were actually passing through. And a lot of these people sympathized with us. Like in Oporoza, our traditional headquarters, we have about eight flow stations, but there was not water to drink in Oporoza or any part of the Gbaramatu kingdom. So any person that could not afford to buy bottled water, I would fetch water from the well for him to drink, which they would not drink. Everybody, therefore, sympathized with us.

Even Sarkin-Bello, after destroying the palace of our monarch, when he went to that place, he said what had government done for these people? He was just telling us live stories. He said it, so that was the thing. Soldiers are human beings too, they come from somewhere, so by the time we talk, I explain to them, I am not here to kill anybody.

Why it escalated to the extent it did, the JTF was still looking for bunkering barges and they went to one of my camps. My boys were playing ball because a festival was going on at Oporoza, but before they knew it, two or three gunboats were shooting at them.

They injured one of my boys. It was then they said if these people take over this place, we would be  finished, so let us fight back. They mounted pressure on the JTF, moved their boats and followed the soldiers. I think it was there that two of the boats escaped and they got one.

Camp 5 was like an operational and tactical headquarters at a period and the former vice president, now President, Dr. Jonathan, Governor Uduaghan, former governor of Bayelsa  State, Alamieyeseigha; Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark, among others, came calling at different occasions. What is your memory of their visits?

Yes, even the JTF commander at that period, General Lawrence Ngubane was also here. While they came, E.K. Clark knows me very well that I am not into criminal activities and they knew the genuineness of the cause that I and my people were pursuing then.

Selecting the team

We were reaching out to people, explaining and calling people to come to our rescue, both at home and abroad. So when Goodluck was the vice president, they now said let us go and meet this young man and tell him that the late Yar’Adua means well for our people, let him give some time to the Nigerian government, that they will develop the Niger-Delta, that was the discussion. When they came, I told them that they should go and that I will reach out to all my people.

Then, I would select my team, the government would select its team and we would meet and discuss the issues affecting the Niger-Delta. They went to  set up their team and I set up mine. They were meeting regularly. The process, you know, amnesty was part of our own demand too before all of a sudden; they came to bomb Camp 5.

What special time do you have with Governor Uduaghan in this struggle because it is said that both of you are good friends?

I think everybody is my friend, it is when I know that this is my right and you are trying to stop me from getting it that I will disagree with you. Uduaghan as a person knows that our first struggle here was between Ijaw and Itsekiri people, but all of us came to realize that our problem is  not even the Itsekiri people, because the Itsekiri people, who are trying to oppress us, are still suffering  the same way we are suffering.

No problem with Uduaghan

Uduaghan was SSG when we were doing this struggle. He knows how to manage Ijaws and Itsekiris on his own side, so I feel that I have no business with him. My focus is Nigerian government, it is only when he stands on my way that I will have issues with him. I have no problem with Uduaghan. When I went to meet the late Yar’Adua, he was there and I spoke the way I had been speaking with him here to the President.

 Some ex-militants are still clamouring for inclusion in the amnesty programme, though government said its disarmament and demobilization had ended. What is your honest opinion in view of the threat  the fresh agitation for inclusion poses to peace in the region?

If I want to say something on that, the list that I submitted through Paul to the late President, had  over 10, 000 persons and he gave us only 2,000. For now, I will not support third phase in this amnesty programme. This is because  this thing has turned to business and by the time we start a third phase, demand will also come for a fourth phase. The fifth phase will come. We have other things to do.

Don’t you worry that these people may obstruct the existing peace in the region if they are not included?

You know if you are doing anything out of fear today, then, tomorrow you will still do another one. So, for now, amnesty is over. For those that were already registered for the programme and have not been trained, I am not talking about those ones. I am about these new ones that everybody would go and arrange this and that to organize; I can stand in any place to defend it.

There is this big contract you secured in the eyes of many Nigerians for provision of security on Nigeria’s territorial waters. It has generated quite some controversy, to the extent that national security has been breached by it, what is the contract exactly and what is your take on this matter?

You know that there is no way that I can breach national security. Why people are saying all sorts of rubbish on that contract is because they know that I know the in and out of the sea as far as Nigeria’s territorial waters is concerned. And they know that once a contract like that is given to me or to my people, criminal activities in the country will stop.

Because I still know very well that if Chevron is producing about 4,000 barrels of crude oil, what they are reporting to Nigerian government is maybe 1,500 barrels, the same thing with Shell and same with Agip. People are carrying crude oil out of this country every day and night. Our duty is just to provide platform, which my people are doing, I am not even directly involved. But in a contract like that everybody knows my capability when it comes to security matters. If not that people are afraid of me, if Nigeria has difficulties in some security issues, they know that they can call on me and I can assist them. That is the fear of these people who are saying all these and paying people to write against me.

 What is the financial outlay of this contract and have you been able to stop the movement of oil out of the country since you started the contract?

I am not in the position to explain all that to you, but maybe when you get to the operational people, they will say that we have done a lot. Like when the President of Benin Republic came to our President, complaining about sea piracy, I was quickly called upon to intervene. That was about 10 months ago, and since then, from 36 sea piracy attacks, we have reduced them to zero. No attack  till now in Benin Republic. Everybody knows that whatever you are doing, you will always step on toes, like the cabal in this country that is collecting all the money at the detriment of the masses. They know that the looting is inside the sea and I will go a very long way to stop them from looting Nigeria’s resources. We have actually intercepted a lot of persons, some members of the cabal. If you get to my operational people, they will give you the details.

 What are the terms of payment for this contract?

The contract is on the basis of no cure, no pay. If we happen to recover maybe N10, 000, out of the N10, 000, they will pay us, if we fail to recover anything for the 10 years, we will not be paid anything, so as at now, government has not paid us anything.

Earlier, you talked about former President Yar’Adua asking you to partner with Israelis to handle the contract, who are you working with now?

Actually, I was working based on his instructions, so before we came to apply, I reached out to Israelis and they came as our technical partners, after which we put the papers together and submitted our proposal to NNPC. It was based on that this contract was approved, but it was supposed to be approved for six states, but they said Delta, Rivers and Bayelsa, we should take these states as pilot project, which was how this contract came up. Now, people are saying this and that, everybody knows how this thing came up. I don’t want to join issues with them, but it is my duty to fight for my people to survive.

 What is the connection between this project and the pipeline surveillance job that is generating another furore in Delta State?

No, the contracts are two different contracts; the one they are writing all sorts of rubbish is the one covering the whole of Nigeria’s territorial waters. The pipeline one that you just asked, my duty is to provide surveillance for oil and gas facilities in Delta State, so we have some of our people in Bayelsa and Rivers.

Providing surveillance

They are even saying that Tompolo has collected all the contracts, that the President has given everything to Tompolo, because they don’t know and they don’t even care to ask.

Despite all the nice things you believe you are doing, many still think the government was wrong to give you a contract to safeguard the nation’s territorial waters because you are an ex-militant leader, don’t you see some sense in their worry?

A lot of people will feel that way, but the truth is that if today I am not pleased with the way Nigeria is going, I will come out clearly to say my position. But now that I have accepted amnesty and agreed to work with the government, I will do everything within my power to see that Nigerians live together as one and same people. For the people that are having that fear, it is because they don’t know me.

You see, before now, people were just hearing of Tompolo killing people every day, but by the time they get closer to know who I am, they will come to know that I am not somebody who is after money and material things. My Muslim brothers understand me that I am an easy-going man. My Christian brothers and traditional brothers also know me, mine is that everyone should live and get what is due for everybody.

 Oil cabal

Let me tell you, if people are saying that I am not supposed to handle this project, my position is that I can handle the project. I am saying that a lot of frauds are happening in this country. If any  vessel is trying to load crude oil from Forcados for instance, we need to see the bill of lading to know if it is authorized by NNPC and if everybody is aware, we allow it to leave. If it is illegal, we will arrest it, because we are working in conjunction with Nigeria Navy.

From what I knew before now, if people happen to load 10 vessels out of Nigeria, it is only four that are officially reported and that is what we want to stop and we will stop it. No amount of threat from any quarters will deter us; we will stop it to save this country because what we have is enough to take care of anybody. We will even break the oil cabal and I want to assure you that in no distant time, Nigerians will see the benefits of this contract.