Mr. president : I am Chief Government Ekepemupolo, referred to in good and odd times as Tompolo. I have played my insignificant roles religiously in the determined struggle of the Ijaw, nay Niger Delta, nationalities since 1993 against insensitive multinational corporations and the state. In 2003, I left the average God given comfort of my life without prompting and moved into our beautiful creeks of the Delta of the Niger (reversal mine) among others, to advance our divine and just cause. Till date, I do not plan nor envisage a return to the artificial cities of Warri, Port Harcourt, Lagos and Abuja with your response trend to our struggle.

The intellectual and political agitation of our people predates Nigeria’s independence hurried as it seems today; and the same fundamental and core issues remain unsuppressed and ever daring despite conscious attempts by successive regimes to simplify them through unending conference talks and committees without attending to the recommendations there from.
Reform proposals, from the Willinks Commission of 1958 through Gen. Ogomudia’s special Security Report to the Mitee Technical Committee, abound. Candidly, your committee on amnesty and its arm dealing with disarmament in content and operations are the same to the purified ramifications of our structured struggle. Who is deceiving who?

THE PEACE PROCESS

On assumption of office on 29th May 2007, MEND and the peoples of the Niger Delta greeted you with a unilateral ceasefire and opened a wide window for a peaceful resolution of the regional crisis. On 29th June 2007, your Vice President Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan visited regional agitators in Camp 5 with a message of peace and process was agreed.
There from, I have spoken with lowly and highly placed in your government including yourself emphasing on the cardinal demands of our people. No armed confrontation of skirmishes had occurred between agitators and the Joint Task Force until 13 May 2009 amidst the traditional festival of the people of Gbaranmatu, Who is really deceiving who?

Your government and our people met severally in Abuja, constituted joint committees with your former SGF Babagana Kingibe, present SGF, Ahmed Yayale, cabinet ministers and Defence Chiefs serving variously with our representatives led by Elder T.K.Ogoriba. We agreed on a few fundamental areas of great concern with sub-committees constituted to engage stakeholders preliminarily in the region. We agreed on a presidential visit, declaration of development emergency in the region, release of Henry Okah and others detained in connection with our agitation, pilot withdrawal of the Joint Task Force from the region and composition of oil commissions by regional states, among others that would be discussed in a formal dialogue between government and regional elders and youth leaders.
What happened to these agreements? Why did the events of 13th May 2009 happen instead of a gradual implementation of these preliminary terms agreed to whilst we kept our peace? Who exactly breached the peace and is transparently deceiving who?

AMNESTY AND DISARMAMENT

Your Excellency, your proclamation of Amnesty on 25th June 2009 is only viewed by my ilk as part of the peace process, which was breached on 13th May 2009. It is not viewed as the ultimate or that official act of oblivion or pardon on the part of your government to absolve without trial so-called offenders or group of offenders, intentionally forgetting or overlooking wrongdoings by same. We view the gesture as offer from nothing but it can be something with mutual sincerity and great will.

Why distort and simplify, as usual, our genuine struggle to crime and disarmament? Are crimes of kidnapping, abduction and hostage-taking synonymous to and with our region? Who kidnaps in Kaduna, Lagos, Kogi, Ondo, and the entire Eastern states of the country? Do the security agencies inform government correctly that 99% of crime cases in Port Harcourt are not perpetrated by agitators and core regional indigenes? Categorically, Politicians, Political and Commercial Crime Merchants all over the country are the architects to undo themselves and others. We are clear-headed agitators with an inherited defined vision and mission.

Why the push for disarmament within this space of peace, instead of engagement on the fundamentals that occasioned the armed agitation and its associated incidents? Who bought the arms with whose money? Except by make-beliefs and showbiz, can genuine disarmament be achieved with the Joint Task Force killing and destroying communities, with guns pointed at agitators to drop arms without commencing genuine dialogue on the regional fundamentals and possible mutual reconciliation? I make bold to state categorically that true peace and disarmament can only be seen occurred when and only when the Core Demands of the region are being addressed through a mutually progressive dialogue.

Mr. President, whilst hoping for the practical reality of that dialogue to usher in peace and justice. I suggest the following as preliminary acceptables to the agitators:

1.WITHDRAW OF JTF AND DEMILITARILIZATION

The formation and operation of the Joint Task Force since 2004 has clearly indicated a scenario of replacement for coup plotting in the country, it has caused much image damage to Nigeria and colossal financial waste to the region. Is it part of its mandate for a military officer with rank of Lieutenant Colonel, Major or Captain to lead an “escort job” for multinational corporations? What are rank and file and junior officer doing in the region? It shows degeneration and calls urgently for an improved welfare status for the military which is gradually establishing the region as a survive pipe. Government must improve their welfare and make the barracks attractive and stop sacrificing our region for the stability of their polity.
I herein enjoin the withdrawal of the Joint Task Force and demilitarization of our region from Okirika and Kalabari Kingdoms in Rivers state through the civil Ijaw communities of Bayelsa state to the serene communities of Western Ijaw in Ondo, Edo and Delta states. The Joint Task Force makes no difference: instead it aggravates the conflicts to stay put in the region. They may win this war against our just cause: but they cannot win the peace in any guise not even in our region wherein every child of three and above sleeps with the knowledge of every pipeline meter criss-crossing the region. May 13, 2009 and its fallouts has and shall vindicate and triumph us ultimately.

2. THE RIVER NIGER DREDGING

Government characteristic- to-type has enlisted Chief Tony Anenih and Mrs. Deziani Allision Madueke to dredge the River Niger. Why is government pushing with intent to use the force of JTF to dredge the river instead of addressing the environmental hazards such will cause the communities therein as contained in the Environmental Impact Assessment report such as shore protection and adherence to local content? Legitimate governments all over the world address the communal fears and concerns of the affected before such projects are executed. I hereon disclaim any contact with Chief Tony Anenih on this issue as claimed. I remain among those opposed to it and I am committed to confront by any means necessary any real attempt to dredge the river without recourse to universal standards that are acceptable.
I also enjoin Chief Tony Anenih and Mrs. Madueke to tread softly: for this is an attack on our existence and identity. I consequently urge Mr. President to halt the process and direct government agencies to comply with agreeable standards for the management of the River Niger as a vital lifeline for our people.

3. THE SEPTEMBER BIDS & OIL BUNKERING

Oil bunkering is consciously being peddled by the JTF and Government in their bid to cover state failure and to malign our legitimate struggle. Such expensive ventures requiring huge finances power and contacts can only be carried out by the mighty in government and huge businesses. Who provides or buys the vessels and equipment? Who settles the military and has the connections with the foreigners and refineries? Who owns those vessels apprehended and disappearing? I make bold to urge Mr. President to show will and determination to stop bunkering in the region and see how the mighty in Lagos and Abuja will fall.

However, Mr. President how many Niger Deltans have oil fields, blocs or even allocations that girlfriends are entitled to in Abuja? Does it sound just amidst truths that Genral T.Y.Danjuma sold 45% of one of his marginal fields (Akpo Field) to a Chinese firm for 2.3billion Dollars, still keeping 55%? Can this happen to the Hausa, Yoruba or Igbo? Why must we suffer so much for a God-given blessing? Do you think there can be peace where the people do not have appreciable stakes in their resources and composition and operations of multinationals in the region? Emphatically NO!

CONCLUSION

Mr. President, this is my first personal missive to any government or its privies since 2003 and it remains on the fundamental demands of the region raised for over 50 years by our people who are starkly faced with the daily worrying reality of a hopeless life after oil. With sincerity of purpose and determined will, the crisis in the region remains the simplest to resolve. I urge you to authorize your government to commence dialogue with representatives of the people of the region, nominated from elders and leaders of youths referred to as Aaron Team by MEND, on the core demands of the region with pride and mutual balance.

Your Excellency, may I remind you that Major Isaac Adaka Boro died for this cause: our noble poet and playwriter got hanged with eight other Ogonis in 1995, Dokubo Asari and Henry Okah among others, got incarcerated in inhuman conditions for years, just as several unsung brethren have been murdered and several of our innocent communities completely destroyed. These did not stop the agitation of the people, instead it reinforces it in tactics and participation, How can killing Tompolo, Fara, Ateke, Boyloaf, Afrika, Shoot at Sight, Young Shall Grow and others stop the numerous unsung Tompolos in the creeks who owe our people at home and in the Diaspora this noble duty to bring justice and peace to our land? Kindly thread the path of dialogue, not force. There is no bad peace.

I salute the courage and sacrifice of our brethren in our blessed region in this noble struggle. I thank Henry Okah, Dokubo Asari, Fara Dagogo, Ebi Ben (Boyloaf), Ateke Tom, Shoot at Sight, Afrika, Joshua, Young Shall Grow and several others known and unknown for your past and present sacrifices.

I salute our brethren in the Diaspora, the Ijaw National Congress, Ijaw Youth Council, MEND, JRC, FNDIC, Yoruba Progressives, Northern Justice Known, the Warri Ijaw Peace.

Sincerely.

High Chief Government Ekpemupolo
(Tompolo).


HIGH CHIEF GOVERNMENT EKEPEMUPOLO
IBE EBIDOUWEI OF IJAWLAND
2, Palace Road, Oporoza Town, Gbaranmatu Kingdom, Delta State.

http://www.saharareporters.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3592:top-nd-militant-government-ekepemupolo-tompolo-writes-yaradua-on-the-niger-delta&catid=81:external-contrib&Itemid=300

"Extremly" well said. Indeed, who is deceiving who?

i wonder o

speechless

Well said but will it yield any resonable out come? You all know the answer more than i do.

FG should see this as an olive branch for there is no mention of the dreaded constitutional reform which Yar'Adua and Northern elites so fear. Give some, take some.

The perspicuity of language shows that it was also written by Jomo Gbomo or any of the MEND literati, not Government Ekpemupolo.

Finally, the EMA report which states that shore protection is sine qua non for preventing environmental disaster by dredging the River Niger must be implemented. The riverine people demand no less, and any waiving of environmental obligations will be considered an attack on our existence and dignity, and treated as such.

Not sure I totally agree on the river dredging part.

While environmental impact study should and ought to be required before the project is commenced, obstructing the project would be like my town obstructing the construction of the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway, simply because it might benefit our enemies.

Waterway, railways, and road ways are public utilities that enhance commerce and lead to rapid development of the country.

naijaking1:

Not sure I totally agree on the river dredging part.

While environmental impact study should and ought to be required before the project is commenced, obstructing the project would be like my town obstructing the construction of the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway, simply because it might benefit our enemies.

Nobody is obstructing the project. But carrying out the project without implementing the recommendations of the EMA report will be considered an attack on our ancestral lands and treated as such.

Just like road ways, envoronmental impact analysis are usually done before construction, but I would caution against holding the project hostage in the name of "our ancestral land", because that would the same as those Iroko trees people worshipped for years only to give way to expressways and railways.

naijaking1:

Just like road ways, envoronmental impact analysis are usually done before construction, but I would caution against holding the project hostage in the name of "our ancestral land", because that would the same as those Iroko trees people worshipped for years only to give way to expressways and railways.

Spit troway abeg!

EMA has already been done. Guys are claiming the project is about to go ahead without the recommendations being implemented. The risk here is not to an Iroko tree, but flooding and displacement.

I hope you will be ready to absorb the displaced into already overcrowded Eastern region. Pls tell your guys to clear space from Aba to Awka for us. 

Ibime:

Spit troway abeg!

EMA has already been done. Guys are claiming the project is about to go ahead without the recommendations being implemented. The risk here is not to an Iroko tree, but flooding and displacement.
I hope you will be ready to absorb the displaced into already overcrowded Eastern region. Pls tell your guys to clear space from Aba to Awka for us.

Joke apart, nobody wants an environmental disaster simply from dredging the Niger. A disaster has the potential to affect everybody in very unpredictable ways, and must be avoided at all cost.
If the EMA has been done, the question would be: by who--reputable, unbiased? what were the findings, and how can disaster be minimized?
Disaster is not a MEND issue alone, and there is no need to make it one.

my high chief, well spoken, a thousand tompolos are in the naija delta waiting to be born. so the goverment had better seek peace and listen to the voice of reason. we are watching.

More than a thousand TOMPOLOs already exist in the Niger Delta. Government in Nigeria has always been insincere; the war in the Niger Delta is used as a tool to financially motivate our armed forces while digging their watery graves. Such money would have been better used to develop the barracks and send their dependants to school. Awarding contracts to the same Tony Annenih that failed to deliver good roads to us tells us the real intention of this wicked cabal.

Not sure I totally agree on the river dredging part.

While environmental impact study should and ought to be required before the project is commenced, obstructing the project would be like my town obstructing the construction of the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway, simply because it might benefit our enemies.

Waterway, railways, and road ways are public utilities that enhance commerce and lead to rapid development of the country.

GUY PLEASE TRY AND UNDERSTAND THINGS BEFORE YOU SPIT AN EIA HAS BEEN CARRIED OUT AND TILL DATE THE RECOMMENDATIONS HAVE NOT BEEN CARRIED OUT YET MESSRS VAN OORD DREDGING HAS BEEN MOBILISED TO SITE, MORE LIKE THE CART BEFORE THE HORSE, NO ONE IS AGAINST THE DREDGING OF THE NIGER BUT WITHOUT IMPLEMENTING THE RECOMMENDATIONS EVEN MY HOME TOWN OKRIKA WOULD BE UNDER WATER, LETS TRY AND LEAVE SENTIMENTS ASIDE AND THINK OF THE NUMEROUS COMMUNITIES THAT ITS GONNA AFFECT WITHOUT IMPLEMENTING THE EIA RECOMMENDATIONS.

MEND should know that they do not have monopoly to arms. We all Nigerians can still bear arms. They should not in their dream fantasy think that they can hold this country to ransom. They are getting outta their boundary and it is time they know that Nigerians are now seeing them as opportunist criminals. They should close shop as they have come to their twilight or they will meet their looming darkness.

babasoty:

GUY PLEASE TRY AND UNDERSTAND THINGS BEFORE YOU SPIT AN EIA HAS BEEN CARRIED OUT AND TILL DATE THE RECOMMENDATIONS HAVE NOT BEEN CARRIED OUT YET MESSRS VAN OORD DREDGING HAS BEEN MOBILISED TO SITE, MORE LIKE THE CART BEFORE THE HORSE, NO ONE IS AGAINST THE DREDGING OF THE NIGER BUT WITHOUT IMPLEMENTING THE RECOMMENDATIONS EVEN MY HOME TOWN OKRIKA WOULD BE UNDER WATER, LETS TRY AND LEAVE SENTIMENTS ASIDE AND THINK OF THE NUMEROUS COMMUNITIES THAT ITS GONNA AFFECT WITHOUT IMPLEMENTING THE EIA RECOMMENDATIONS.

Communication is key. The idea is that somehow MEND doesn't want the dregding for political reasons, if their reason is that of safety and release of EIA report, then every well meaning Nigerian should support them. Disasterous flooding of the delta will not only affect MEND, it will affect Oguta, Onitsha, and even Lokoja.
So, let's focus on the implementation of the EIA, and not on forcefully stopping the project.

nobilia:

MEND should know that they do not have monopoly to arms. We all Nigerians can still bear arms. They should not in their dream fantasy think that they can hold this country to ransom. They are getting outta their boundary and it is time they know that Nigerians are now seeing them as opportunist criminals. They should close shop as they have come to their twilight or they will meet their looming darkness.

So your point is that Government should not implement the recommendations of the EIA?

I think the issue here is even beyond MEND, you can be sure that if Government feels the EIA will be overlooked for the sake of "National Interest", then people in the ND will have every reason to oppose it.

The threat here (if not properly implemented ) to the people of the ND makes the degradation suffered as a result of oil exploration a dress reharsal.

Its not about other tribes' ability to carry arms.

Dredging the Niger before addressing the Niger-Delta situation is like putting the cart before the horse.

As long as militancy still abounds due to unresolved constitutional issues, I wonder how much premium Insurance coys will charge ships who trade along the Niger. Methinks Lagos will still be the place to load goods for a while yet.

tompolo . funny name

@naijaking 1. How many times do you need to be told that there is EIA report with recommendations for preliminary work b4 dredging?

If I were a NDtan I would probably bear arms on account of the impact the dredging of the Niger will have on my environment if recommended preliminary measures are not taken first. You are looking at the kind of disaster that can render the ND totally uninhabitable. Should homelessness be added to the social and infrastructural backwardness of the average NDtan?

As for chief Tompolo, the soundness of the reasoning can hardly reasonably be argued. The motive and antecedent of generality of MEND personalities are, however, not unquestionable. I think their brothers who are reaping benefits from the centre should be dealt with to silence first. Afterall charity, they say, (should) begins from home.

So, who is hiding the EIA report

naijaking1:

Communication is key. The idea is that somehow MEND doesn't want the dregding for political reasons, if their reason is that of safety and release of EIA report, then every well meaning Nigerian should support them. Disasterous flooding of the delta will not only affect MEND, it will affect Oguta, Onitsha, and even Lokoja.
So, let's focus on the implementation of the EIA, and not on forcefully stopping the project.

I came to the same conclusion too. I really would caution MEND and Tompolo to thread softly on this. I do not think that anyone in the East wants a flooded Niger Delta as[b] Ibime[/b] has pointed out and that should guide MEND here. We all need a safe and environmentally stable Niger delta. Therefore, if an EIA or EMA exists, it should be followed to the letter. However, MEND should really think strategically and politically here and avoid a political misunderstanding with Igbos for instance. Igboland needs those ports in Oguta and Onitsha and MEND knows this. If they want to continue enjoying support from Ndigbo, then they should tone down their opposition to this dredging exercise and rather push for support from Igbos concerning the implementation of the EIA reports. A word is enough for the wise.

If we take politics out of it just for once; remember the 1000 gorges dam in China? Even though it claims to be the World's largest hydroelectric power generator, it succeeded in destroying millions and millions of historical Chinese homelands.

We must evaluated the EIA without injecting politics into this thing.

I can easily see more than half of Igboland from Asaba, PH, Aba, Owerri to Enugu under water if we just do things the Nigerian way.