Leader of the defunct Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger-Delta, MEND, Chief Government Ekpemupolo, aka Tompolo, has said that he summoned Saturday’s meeting of the militant group in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, because of the overpowering pressure mounted on him and other MEND leaders by ex-agitators and other beneficiaries of the Amnesty Programme.
Tompolo confirmed there was apprehension in Ijaw land over the continued delay by the Federal Government in paying monthly stipends to the beneficiaries, adding that whilst some of them, leaders, understood the reason for the noticeable delay apparently caused by the scrutiny of government agencies, including the Amnesty Office, majority of the beneficiaries did not see it in that light.
“While a few see the delay in the payment of their monthly stipends in the light of the need for the current government to settle in properly, others see the delay as a template to stop the programme.
“The expulsion of some students (home and overseas) by their schools and training institutions particularly has heightened these fears.”
The ex-militant leader, who is the Ibe-Ebidouwei of Izon nation is, however, flabbergasted that a section of the media mischievously linked the meeting to the stoppage of the his pipeline surveillance contract, even though payment had not been made for the services rendered in the renewed contract, or termination of appointments.
Describing is it as highly provocative and despicable; he said he was considering calling off the meeting, if anything, to show that he had no bad intention and would want Niger Delta to remain peaceful under the President Muhammadu Buhari government.
However, repentant militants from the South-South, under the aegis of National Coalition of Niger Delta Ex-Agitators, have called on its members not to attend the ‘crucial’ meeting convened by Tompolo.
President of NCNDE, ‘General’ Israel Akpodoro, in an interview in Abuja alleged that the meeting was laced with mischief and bad intentions.
He said, “That meeting is convened by ex-militants loyal to some senior citizens in the previous administration. Although all the ‘Commanders’ and ‘Generals’ were invited, we are not a party to that because the meeting is to instigate crisis. I have therefore directed my 12,000 members not to attend the meeting.
“If the meeting is for good, I don’t have any problem with it, but I have come to realise that the meeting has mischievous intentions, to cause trouble for the present government. I advise my members and other ex-Niger Delta agitators not to attend the meeting in their own interest.”
The coalition also applauded President Muhammadu Buhari for his visit to the President of United States, Barack Obama, describing it as “integrity buy back for the nation hitherto bedevilled by wanton corruption by the political elite.”
The group believed that Buhari had all it takes to right the wrongs of the past.
Akpodoro said, “No President in the history of Nigeria has brought such glory to the nation. Buhari has shown that he is the messiah that the Nigerian people have craved for because for the first time, Nigerians are seeing a President with quality and scanty entourage to the US as against the multitude of questionable businessmen and women paraded by ex-President Goodluck Jonathan during regular jamborees, thereby compromising the integrity of the Nigerian people.
“Buhari has shown enough proof to Nigerians that he is prepared to change the face of governance in the world’s most populous black nation. The Peoples Democratic Party goons should learn the art of governance from the All Progressives Congress-led government of positive change.”
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