omonigho4: Hello House,
I am trying to fill my DS-160 form and my elder brother is my sponsor... but there is no option to fill him as my sibling as the one paying for my trip.. the options available are parent, child, other relatives, friend and other. please which should i choose..

your elder brother is your relative so just choose 'other relative'

dayokanu: Was it that Nnaji was incompetent or Jonathan is clueless?

All of the above.

OkparaIgbo:

You may not be far from the truth as its in the nature of the Igbo's to love everyone..however after the numerous betrayal and unstable nature of the Yorubas, I must tell you that the Igbo's barely tolerate the Yoruba's and are always cautious of them on any dealings. However you are correct that it is not as fierce as on Nairaland. And like I said I was an Igbo boy that joined the forum after reading so many falasies and nonsense about the Igbos posted by the Yoruba folks here

Trash as usual.

The only thing funny here is the . . . AGBARI OJUKU.

'So, instead of wasting public resources in recruiting.
media experts to “rebrand” and make the.
presidency “look good” to Nigerians, the president.
and his numerous committees need to work harder,
sacrifice more, travel less and tackle more problems.
that will make life easier and safer for Nigerians". The president is misguided and ill advised.

I dont give a damn about the
intentions of Goodluck Jonathan,
but I and my unborn generations
are directly affected by his actions
and inactions today. As a President, Jonathan holds a
position of trust and responsibity
that makes him directly
accountable to those at whose
pleasure he occupied that office. His actions and inactions will
therefore be thoroughly
scrutinized and criticized by those
at whose behest he was elevated
to a high office. His intentions, on
the other hand, are no ones business but his own.

Spot on.

The President Nigerians Know – by Paul Adepoju It was with a rare blend of shock and
utmost surprise that I read Dr.
Reuben Abati’s write-up on a Sunday
morning, right in the presence of the
Lord where nothing is hidden before
the Most High. As expected, the veteran journalist dwelt more on
portraying the president as a leader
who has the interest of the nation at
heart. He also fired word missiles at the self-
appointed social media activists thus:
“we have a lot of unintelligent people
repeating silly clichés and too many
intelligent persons wasting their
talents lending relevance to thoughtless conclusions.” I agree with Dr. Abati on the
contamination of public commentary,
I however disagree with his assertion
that lots of the commentators are
unintelligent while the intelligent
ones are wasting their talents, since he belonged to the same
demography before pledging his
allegiance to the presidency. Obviously, he knows more about
what a larger percentage of Nigerians
don’t know about the man –
Goodluck Jonathan, a man he also
criticised from a distance prior to his
appointment as the president’s media henchman. So it’s not unexpected for
him to publicly clamour for fairer
consideration of the president who
could go down in history as having
the lowest approval rating. Having a closer relationship with
people in government is something
that has proven severally to be
counter-productive for the machinery
of governance because it clouds
one’s objective assessment of the situation at hand. On the notion that the president has
good intentions for Nigeria, Dr. Abati
and everyone at the presidency
should know that Nigerians do not
doubt that. As a matter of fact, all past
presidents had (and still have) good intentions for our nation. The bone of
contention however is not unrelated
to the inability of the president to
bring his brilliant intentions hanging
somewhere in the skies to reality. Despite national and international
outcries that characterised the
military junta, former heads of
government such as Generals Sanni
Abachi and Gbadamosi Babangida
took the oath because they all had good intentions for the nation. Extending this beyond the scope of
government, one could
unequivocally say that even the
Nigerian contingent to the 2012
London Olympics had good
intentions; they wanted to make the nation proud but their good
intentions were inconsequential.
Same could be said of the president. As the Commander-In-Chief of the
Armed Forces whose primary role is
to ensure the safety of Nigerians, the
spate of suicide bombings, ethno-
religious crisis, extra-judicial killings
and several others could make Nigerians doubt the intention of the
president. In other words, Nigerians
aren’t doubting GEJ’s intentions, they
just aren’t sure he can handle the
challenges of his office effectively
since thousands of homes daily mourn the demise of their loved ones
as a result of circumstances that past
presidents would have controlled
effectively without bloodshed. On alcoholism in Aso Rock, Dr. Abati
ought to know that Nigerian
constitution is silent about drinking
alcoholic beverages at the
presidential villa hence it’s left to the
occupant, current occupant, to decide whether he will perform better under
the mild or strong influence of emu
oguro (fresh palm wine) or ordinary
Zobo drink. All Nigerians care for is a
vibrant president who is tackling all
their problems. One of the major reasons why the
presidency is being tongue- and
word-lashed extensively are his visits
to countries where the governments
are doing well; his inability or
reluctance to introduce such reformations to better the lots of
Nigerians whose taxes, sweats and
shares of the nation’s oil wealth are
fuelling the presidential jets. As a veteran journalist who has
written copiously on politics and
government, Dr. Abati can’t expect
the president to enjoy the support of
all Nigerians; neither will they cheer
him on since this isn’t a kindergarten class! I guess they need to be reminded
that Nigeria is the world’s largest
black nation and the president is
responsible for the fate of over 150
million people belonging to more
than 300 ethnic groups; people who are vast and diverse as shown in
recent world studies that described
them as the happiest, the most
spiritually faithful, most unfaithful,
and most sexually active – yes we
are. So, instead of attempting to force the
love of Goodluck Jonathan down the
sore throats of Nigerians, Dr. Abati
could do Nigerians, especially the
loyal readers of his Friday and
Sunday tirades on the pages of Guardian newspapers, much good by
using his closeness to the president
to give him a frank assessment of
what Nigerians really want.
Despite the fact that the president
feels he’s being unfairly crucified by
the media and activists who are
always asking him to resign, he
should know that Nigerians aren’t
asking him to bring the moon to bar beach, or the sun to the oil creeks;
they only want security and the basic
things of life in addition of signs that
show that the president truly care
about the plight of Nigerians by
keeping to his promise. Dr. Abati’s carefully written and
scrutinized piece left out the various
tell tale signs that made many
Nigerians lose hope on the
president’s ability to restore fading
hope. A BBM broadcast is currently
circulating; it is laced with the
president’s various promises while
campaigning across the nation. So
far, none of them has been
satisfactorily fulfilled. He also reneged on a number of
promises including his pledge during
the fuel subsidy uproar to reduce his
foreign trips and entourage. However, like some fellow Nigerians,
I’m having second thoughts about
the man Goodluck Jonathan.
Obviously, lots of things are wrong
with his administration but he’s
making some risky bold steps which if successful could change the public
perspective about him from a
weakling to an intelligent president.
PHCN is one of such. So, instead of wasting public
resources in recruiting media experts
to “rebrand” and make the
presidency “look good” to Nigerians,
the president and his numerous
committees need to work harder, sacrifice more, travel less and tackle
more problems that will make life
easier and safer for Nigerians. Unlike Reuben Abati, Nigerians don’t
see the president every day, but they
see his handiworks in the high pump
price of fuel and the incessant bomb
blasts up north. According to them,
the president they know isn’t working hard enough.
www.omojuwa.com/?p=11655

TO ALL MY FANS IN THE UNITED
KINGDOM (UK), WHO I VERY MUCH
APPRECIATE, I regret to let you know that I will not
be performing along side my most
respected big brother and friend
D’BANJ at the scheduled show of
August 27, 2012 in London. I am both a Nigerian citizen, as well as
an American citizen, I carry both the
Nigerian and the American passports.
As an American citizen, I do not
require a visa to enter the United
Kingdom, however I require a work permit in the UK for any paid
performance such as the scheduled
August 27, 2012 in London, that is the
law in the United Kingdom. I applied
for a work permit at the British
Embassy in Abuja/Lagos but unfortunately up till the close of
business on Friday August 24, 2012 I
was unable to obtain a work permit,
as a result I have to cancel my
performance and my trip to the United
Kingdom altogether. I apologize for the inconvenience and the
disappointment, but be rest assured
that I will make it up to you all on a
future date. You will agree with me
that it is better to be law abiding at all
times and in every jurisdictions. Finally, please go out en mass to support the
Koko Master (D’BANJ) and have a
wonderful night on August 27, 2012. Warm Regards David Adedeji Adeleke aka DAVIDO
www.cultureshocknigerians.com/news/davido-drops-out-of-dbanjs-uk-show-releases-statement/

werepeLeri:

LOL. Dunce. Do you know when BH came into existence? 1999-2001. This shows you are a kid, no need to tell you stories about BH. Did they tell you BH started with GEJ? LOL. Even primary school folks knows better. Mumu.

But they were not active during Obj's regime.

Why can't this guy Abati go sleep? Let Jonathan's transformation achievements speak for him. A good product does not need much advert. Chinua Achebe says"When Nigeria is working, we will all see it" Abati you dont need to tell us all your boss does. Nigeria projects are not invisible, we shall all see it.

safarigirl: Thanks for the info dude.

u welcome

wandeay: where is d red carpet, i only saw red clothes

i wonder o

Lordave: First it was Jude, now it's Don J. What are these Igbo guys up to? God bless them shaa..

which jude are u talking about?

splendidb20: RENO OMOKRI, what is your nairaland username?

no one but. . . . Beaf, the leader of the 40-man crew.

safarigirl: The ones I don't get are those who start with one name and then decide to have another, eg. Ikechukwu aka Killz, and Saucekid aka Sinzu, they should make up their minds, btw, Sinzu sounds like some kinda Shaolin warrior ish, or a name for a character on Tekken. What's up with Skales as a stage name? Does the dude have scales or is he good at scaling a fence? Brymo, Bracket, still don't understand those. Sound Sultan, Flavor, Eva, Blaize, Mo'Cheddah, Da GRIN...names with swag and sensible meaning.

In hiphop most of the acts have more than one name. So they have stage name then other nick names.
Rick ross= rozay, bawss
Eminem=slim shady
T.I= rubber band man, tip
Jayz =jigga, hov
B.I.G= Biggie, biggie small etc
Then we also av our own rappers too.
Sauce kid=sinzu
Ikechukwu=killz
Vector tha viper= vec etc
And on brymo, i think he's name is ibrahim. So i guess u know that
Ibrahim, Abraham, Ibro, Braimo ( Brymo) are all the same.

splashilicious: I will prefer to write the gre in Ibadan,this month or early September Does anyone know a centre to take the test in Ibadan? thanks.

U should check EAC centre at awolowo/housing area bodija. There is anoda centre around adamasingba stadium opposite bola ige chambers.

@Op . . I totally disagree on modenine nine's part. . .
Its seems u dnt know what Nine means in hiphop culture. 'Nine' is a semi-automatic handgun designed
to fire cartridges in caliber 9mm
Parabellum. So when someone calls himself Mode Nine, it simply means 'someone is in a killing Mode or in a mode to kill or murder a song. Pls Whenever u want to give examples just leave out 'real hip hop acts'.
Abi u havent heard about. Killer mike? Bun b? Big boi (mind u he's not big)? Big K.R.I.T? yelawolf? Andre 3000? These are names gotten in the streets before going into full time music.

SayHello: Whn wizkid is lyk 30, wud he change d name t wizman??

is it cos he's a nigerian that u're saying this? Ask lil wayne the same question.

madt song . . .sinzu is sinzu, i no feel 2face at all

check the link for update
www.amebor.com/eme-scandal/#

P square has been stealing beat/style, since their 1st album. Its nothing new thats their area of specialization.

tpapi: IBB has denounce BH ,i think is high time u also denounce BH openly

when are u goin to denounce millitancy?

A fugitive just 3 years ago now a freeman billionaire. Gej i hail thee

Government Ekpemupolo a.k.a.
Tompolo, a former militant has risen to
become a strong ally of the federal
government, and a billionaire
businessman Only three years ago, he was a
fugitive. In May 2009, Brigadier-
General Sarkin Yaki Bello, commander
of the Joint Military Task Force, JTF, in
Niger Delta, had declared Government
Ekpemupolo the most wanted man in Nigeria. Bello had fingered
Ekpemupolo, or Tompolo, as he is
widely known, and his band of
militants in the Gbaramutu creeks of
the Niger Delta as executing the killing
of 11 soldiers – one officer and 10 junior men. It was just one of the
many instances of the militants’
atrocities.
The militants had been running riot in
the Niger Delta, perpetrating
illegitimate bunkering, operating illegal refineries, vandalising oil
pipelines, engaging in kidnapping and
doing piracy. And Tompolo was in the
thick of it as one of the leaders. The JTF
was intent on doing him in. Bello’s
men stormed the Okerenkoko, operations headquarters of Tompolo,
desperately searching for him. They
were successful all right, but not in
nabbing Tompolo. What they found
were numerous rifles, machine guns,
Uzzi guns, Army mistin carriers, dynamite and gun boats. In the Niger
Delta, Government Ekpemupolo,
ruthless, invincible and taciturn, was
and is indeed, a government all of his
own. Today, Tompolo is not only a free man,
he is a darling of the very federal
government that only three years ago,
considered him an arch enemy
deserving of extermination. Despite
his violent past and little education, he is one of the most influential Nigerians
today. There is no doubt that he is
very close to President Goodluck
Jonathan. To cement the romance,
government has invested the Global
West Vessel Specialist Limited, GWVSL, a firm widely believed to be owned by
Tompolo, with a contract worth $
103.4 million (over N15 billion) to
supply 20 vessels for the use of the
nation’s military authorities to secure
the waterways. Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and
Safety Agency, NIMASA, Ziadeke
Akpobolokemi, had last year sent a
memo titled, “Award of Contract for
the Strategic Concessioning
Partnership with NIMASA to Provide Platforms for Tracking Ships and
Cargoes, Enforce Regulatory
Compliance and Surveillance Of The
Entire Nigerian Maritime Domain,” to
President Goodluck Jonathan. In considering the memo, President
Goodluck Jonathan and
Akpobolokemi chose GWVSL as the
preferred company for the 10-year
concession agreement. The
concession is renewable for two terms of five years each. Jonathan, in a
memo dated 9 November 2011, with
reference number PRES/99/MT/61,
approved Akpobolokemi’s memo,
which the Federal Executive Council
rubber-stamped on 5 January 2012. According to Akpobolokemi, GWVSL
“will provide platforms for effective
policing of Nigeria’s maritime domain
and ensure compliance with
international maritime conventions on
vessels and ships voyaging the country’s waters”. NIMASA maintains
that the concessionaire would help the
federal government to enforce the
sabotage law and collect levies on its
behalf. NIMASA’s projection shows
that about N124bn is expected to be generated in revenue to the federal
government by GWVSL.
Akpobolokemi underlines the public-
private partnership with Tompolo’s
company as necessary because the
federal government could not bear the cost of the project. Jonathan has sent the new memo to
the National Assembly, urging it to
discountenance an earlier one
submitted by the late President Umaru
Yar’Adua. Yar’Adua’s memo sought to
create a coastal guard, comprising all security agencies, to man the country’s
maritime domain. Although the Minister of Transport,
Senator Idris Umar had striven to
explain there were no underhand
dealings to the maritime contract,
critics still read ethnic jingoism into it.
President Jonathan, Akpobolokemi and Tompolo all hail from the Niger
Delta, whose people have for many
years been expressing infuriation that
they are being oppressed despite the
fact that the geographical area
produces the oil that enriches Nigeria. Umar told journalists that contrary to
speculations that the GWVSL, by the
contract, would be usurping the
functions of the Nigerian Navy, the
company would only be providing
platforms, security boats, equipment and expertise to assist in securing
Nigeria’s waterways and thereby
leverage on revenue generation. The
company’s hands will not bear arms. More importantly, it is GWVSL, and not
government, Umar disclosed, that
would be providing the entire $
103.4mn fund for the exercise and it
would be recouping its investment
from surpassing NIMASA’s annual revenue collection profile. “Under the
NIMASA Act, it is empowered to take
charge of administration and the
safety of our waters. And under the
same Act, NIMASA has been
empowered to carry out its functions, duties and responsibilities either by
itself or through any institution of
government or in partnership with
any agency of government or through
or in partnership with any natural
person or limited liability company like the Global West Limited which has now
entered into a partnership with
NIMASA,” Umar clarified in justifying
the contract. But the critics, mostly northern leaders,
accused the President of secretly
pursuing an ethnic agenda and
wondered why what they called a
sensitive contract that borders on
national security should be handed to a private company. They also
wondered if the concessionaire would
keep the huge accruals even if it met
its target in one month of its operation.
The disenchanted leaders cited the
abrupt deployment of former Minister of Transport, Yusuf Suleiman to the
Ministry of Sports for once querying
Akpobolokemi over the Tompolo
issue. Suleiman was believed to be
furious with Akpobolokemi for
allegedly paying N49mn weekly to Tompolo’s company to secure the
waterways. But Akpobolokemi
justified the payment, claiming that it
was payment for five vessels hired
from Tompolo’s company by the
agency. The power play between Suleiman and Akpobolokemi assumed
an ethnic dimension as some Niger
Delta elders waded in in support of the
NIMASA boss. Suleiman eventually lost
his job as Transport Minister. Sources told TheNEWS that
Akpobolokemi was Tompolo’s
candidate for the NIMASA job.
Jonathan, it was gathered, preferred
to remove the minister from his
position than risk infuriating Tompolo, a man the president is very happy to
have on his side. Immediately Suleiman queried
Akpobolokemi and sent a clear signal
to him that he could be fired, Tompolo
called Suleiman asking him to show
mercy to the NIMASA boss. But
Jonathan moved fast by redeploying Suleiman from the Transport Ministry
to Sports. The GWSVL contract is regarded in
many quarters as merely formalising a
job Tompolo has been informally
performing for NIMASA for many
months; and has been feeding quite
fatter on. For the 43-year-old creek- wise roughneck, it has been a long,
tortous road to stupendous wealth
and the billionaire club. Frail of figure
but so stout of courage, Tompolo
balances whatever deficit he suffers in
educational accomplishments with suicidal but calculatingly rewarding
proclivities. Born to a royal house in
Okerenkoko in Gbaramatu kingdom,
Warri South-West Local Government,
Delta State, little Government attended
Okepopo Primary School, Warri and later, Warri Comprehensive College,
leaving in 1993. The increasingly combative
restiveness of Niger Delta youths
against what they perceived
exploitation by the federal
government cut Tompolo’s future out
for him. In 1997, he began his quasi- military career as an Ijaw soldier
during the bloody crisis between the
Ijaw and the Itsekiri over then Head of
State, Gen. Sani Abacha’s relocation of
a local government headquarters from
the Ijaw area to Itsekiri’s. Once disclosing what prompted him into
militancy, Tompolo explained he and
others like Paul, Dennis, Ketson,
Kingsley Otuaro, Oboko Bello, Dan and
George Timinimi were furious that
what they firmly believed was their land was being taken over by their
Itsekiri neighbours. He narrated that in
the 1980s, there was a time the Itsekiri
people wanted to collect rent from
those living in Okerenkoko, a town
that is today an Ijaw community in Gbaramatu kingdom. “The Itsekiri
people say they are the owners of
Gbaramatu kingdom as a whole. From
what I was told, we (Ijaw) are the
original owners of the land in
question, and our Itsekiri brothers came to meet us there,” he asserted. Tompolo recalled that he was always
accompanying his father’s elder
brother, the late Papa Gbamido
Ekpemupolo as he went from one
court to another, in Benin, Warri or
Abuja, over cases between the Ijaw in Gbaramatu and the Itsekiri. “So when
we realised that if we didn’t stand firm
we would be forced to pay rent to our
neighbour, we decided to take our
lives in our hands and fight out the
battle. That is where the battle between us and our Itsekiri brothers
started,” he stated. The face-off was
compounded by the relocation of the
headquarters of Warri South-West
Local Government Area from Ogbe-
Ijoh to Ogidigben, an Itsekiri community. The war threw up Tompolo as a
ruthless and brave soldier and a good
manager of forces. After the war,
threats to his life and his own ambition
of playing in the bigger league
compelled him to move to Oporoza within the Gbaramutu kingdom. There,
two developments emerged to lend
Tompolo excuses for his militancy and
its underlying goal of mercantilism.
Violent agitations against the oil
multinational, Shell, had been growing since Abacha deployed soldiers
against the Ogonis and other Niger
Delta elements protesting against oil
spillages, general environmental
degradation and non-development of
the oil-producing areas. The coup de grace was government’s hanging of
Ken Saro-Wiwa, an Ogoni and
environmentalist. Tompolo arrived the Niger Delta
agitation cauldron at the right time,
after Abacha’s death, and keyed in
efficiently into the scattering of
unorganised armed groups disrupting
the multinational companies’ oil prospecting and producing
operations, especially Shell’s. He was
particularly alleged to be a pointman
in the attacks against Shell, accusing it
of environmental despoilation and
exploitation. Helpless against the militants’ guerilla attacks – and
kidnapping of its officials, to boot –
Shell quickly got the message.
Tompolo’s operations turned into a
protection racket, with Shell shelling
payments to the young, ruthless militant and his associates to assure, at
least, some measure of smooth
operations. Second, on the return to democracy,
the wont of Nigeria’s political leaders
to apply violence on opponents and
need for private protection demanded
the services of tough, fearless goons.
In the Niger Delta, many of the politicians turned to the militants who
already boasted heavy weapons and
understood the terrain. When state
governors came into power, they only
boosted the artillery firepower of the
militants on whom they splashed money to acquire more arms. Thus,
the Niger Delta, populated by fierce,
gun-toting youth, became a hotbed of
both violent attacks on oil companies
and oil installations, as well as violent
political thuggery. In 2003, Tompolo led the Federated Niger Delta Ijaw
Communities, FNDIC, in an uprising
that shut down about 40 per cent of
Nigeria’s oil production, targeting
mostly Chevron’s installations. Gradually, Tompolo’s fame as a vicious
war general but a principled and
maganimous leader to his forces
spread through the creeks. He had
moved back to Okerenkoko to
establish Camp 5 as his headquarters. Camp 5 was originally a private
property called “Abuja” in the
neighbourhood from where he and
his colleagues started the struggle.
And gradually, the money began to
flow in – from the various rackets of political and corporate protection, to
illegal bunkering. He was effectively
leader of the Delta State end of the
Niger Delta militants’ battle against
oppression. As Convener of the Ijaw
Youth Leadership Forum, IYLF, the umbrella body of all Ijaw young
militants, Tompolo was, and is said to
still be, providing mentorship and
logistic support for all members.
Across Delta State, he contributed to
strengthening other militant groups. One example was Mujahid Dokubo
Asari’s Niger Delta People’s Volunteer
Force, NDPVF, to which Tompolo not
only provided field fighters but also
supplied the necessary arms and
ammunition that ensured Asari’s successful commencement of his
military campaign against oil
installations. Tompolo’s intervention also helped to
check the rampaging influence of
Ateke Tom’s Icelander Group, which
was on the verge of overrunning
Buguma, Asari’s hometown in Rivers
State. As admitted by Asari himself: “Tompolo decided on his own volition
to give me 50 AK47s which I used to
launch the first series of attacks on the
stronghold of the Icelanders. All my
attacks were successful.” Tompolo’s profile and stature soared
in 2006 when he gathered his fellow
group leaders from across the Niger
Delta at Camp 5 to accord their
struggle a definite name and platform.
Besides, the new platform was meant to be immediately used to press for the
release of Asari and Diepreye
Alamieyeseigha, the former Bayelsa
State governor, both of who were
incarcerated by the federal
government. So it was at Camp 5, Tompolo’s headquarters, that the
Movement of the Emancipation of the
Niger Delta, MEND, was formed. MEND
was, however, not formed as an
umbrella organisation of all the
militant groups but as an organ to issue unified, rather than discordant,
statements for them. So if any of the
groups attacked any oil installation or
kidnapped any figure, it was MEND
that would admit responsibility for the
act. Tompolo had maintained in a rare
interview that it is not an issue in
dispute that he was the founder of
MEND. “I did not go to school, so
anything concerning paper work,
there are people who handle it. I am not the only person; there are others.
If you are doing something, you have
to put heads together with others
because the idea is to cut across our
nine states. That was how MEND was
formed and that was the reason the last time that all the ex-militant leaders
went to Abuja. In the presence of
everybody, I told them that I am the
owner of MEND. It was formed in Camp
5. I said it in the presence of
everybody and nobody can contest it with me,” he declared. Names
Tompolo was referring to as the
intellectual minds behind his
operations then included Oboko Bello,
who studied Mathematics up to the
doctoral level and Henry Okah, who was appointed in Camp 5 as the
propangadist for MEND though he was
not in the country. Okah has since
been arrested in South Africa for gun-
running and the 1 0ctober 2011
(Independence Day) bombing in Abuja. Tompolo boasted that, apart from
Dokubo-Asari and Ateke Tom, every
other militant general had his tutelage
at Camp 5. “Henry Okah was one of us.
That is the truth and he is somebody
that if not for greed and his trying to say that I want to be all and all, he is
one person that all of us respect. He is
one of us,” he said. Based in South
Africa, Okah was the brains behind the
e-mail and text messages to media
establishments on MEND’s activities. MEND announced its first signature
statement with the abduction of nine
foreign staff – three Americans, two
Egyptians, two Thais, one Briton and
one Filipino – of Wilbros, an American
oilfield services company based in Panama but with a major office and
company executives in Houston. Its
Nigerian operational base is Choba,
Port Harcourt. Wilbros has since been
acquired by Nigerians; it is widely
believed that former governor of Delta State, James Ibori, now serving term in
an English jail is behind the acquisition.
MEND, which claimed to be fighting for
a greater share of Nigeria’s oil wealth,
claimed responsibility for the Saturday
17 February 2006 abduction. There followed a series of raids which
consequently cut Nigeria’s crude oil
exports drastically and negatively
impacted on the economy. Until the JTF fell out with Tompolo’s
militant group, he was the Task Force’s
favoured boy. The JTF was always
turning to him for information and
assistance to nail pirates and
kidnappers, and as one unconfirmed source said, his magnanimity was
always rubbing off in some forms on
the men and officers of the Force. In
July 2004, Tompolo was said to have
assisted the JTF, then under the
command of Brig-General Elias Zamani to capture John Togo, a notorious sea
pirate and his gang that included
Perembowe Ebinimie, Felis Dissi and
Peter Dolobowei. The JTF and the Delta
State government were also said to be
employing Tompolo’s structures to provide security for the troubled
waterways in the state. The source
alleged that Tompolo was earning as
much as N100mn every month to
maintain peace, on behalf of
government, on the waterways. By 2009, Tompolo had amassed so
much influence in Niger Delta affairs
that even powerful figures in the zone
looked up to him for economic and
political empowerment. Reliable Niger
Delta sources affirmed that his influence sustained his kinsman, Chief
Wellington Okrika as Executive
Chairman of the Delta State Oil
Producing Areas Development
Commission, DESOPADEC, for so long.
Tompolo was also said to have virtually single-handedly enthroned
Godwin Bebenimibo, a retired
Superintendent of Police, as Gbaran III
Agadagba, the traditional ruler of the
Gbaramatu kingdom. So when in June 2009, the President
Yar’Adua administration embarked on
implementing its Amnesty programme
for Niger Delta militants, it could not
but court Tompolo as the arrowhead
of the programme. The federal government could not afford not to
patronise him; his acceptance of the
amnesty programme largely
influenced other militant leaders to
embrace peace. His embrace of the
peace overtures largely crumbled MEND, the structure that wrought
havoc and nearly crippled the
economy of the nation. Newspaper
reports painted how Tompolo
received a hero’s attention on the day
he led more than 1,500 militants to surrender their weapons in Oporoza
village. Received by then Minister of
Defence, retired General Godwin Abbe
and cheered on by hundreds of
people wearing vests with the
inscription Tompolo Is Our Hero, the militant surrendered a large cache of
arms that included general purpose
machine guns, rifles, rocket launchers,
explosives and countless numbers of
various ammunition. Tompolo was reported to have shed
tears at the occasion while
remembering close friends, associates
and relatives who had died while the
militants were waging what he called a
fight to free the people of the Niger Delta from bondage. He promised that
since the militants have embraced
amnesty, the issue of MEND and the
reason to shed blood was over. The
warlord insisted that anybody using
MEND for any liberation cause for the Niger Delta would be doing so for his
personal interest. He, however,
warned that if the federal government
reneges on its promises to develop the
Niger Delta, militants in the area would
have no choice but to go back to taking up arms. Tompolo always cites Isaac Adaka
Boro, the late Ijaw militant who was
killed during the Nigerian civil war, as
his hero and the main inspirational
figure for his daring struggle against
the federal government. He strongly believes in the Egbesu deity, the god
that many Ijaw worship, and sees it as
directing his survival so far. He
explained that the deity helped him to
achieve his aims and objectives, since
he was pursuing what he insisted was “a genuine struggle”. Now a High Chief in his Gbaramatu
kingdom, Tompolo’s frail physique
belies the daring spirit within. At his
Camp 5 headquarters, he determines
the rules of engagement. On one
occasion in 2007, when Jonathan, then Vice-President, visited the camp
for talks with Tompolo, his convoy
and guards were strictly denied entry
into the camp. Only Jonathan was said
to have been allowed in. Throughout
the struggle, Tompolo gave the JTF the fiercest, combative resistance. But
away from the struggle, he is
described as so unassuming; even till
now that he is a billionaire, he relates
freely with his Ijaw kinsmen and the
larger Niger Delta people. He constantly denies he was, and is,
involved in illegal bunkering. “My
name became associated with oil
business when I was in Camp 5. When
people were doing illegal business in
my area (front of Camp 5), I had people with me and would ask them
to go and ask these people to give
them some money so that we could
feed with it. But I would never do it
myself,” he said. “Everybody knows
that I am not a bunkerer and that is the more reason why I am surviving
up till date,” he once told a national
daily.
Talking about illegality, Tompolo,
typical of him, has not been heard to
say a word on the raging GWVSL contract that some critics have been
lampooning. So what is illegal about it?
Nothing, absolutely nothing, insisted
Akpobolokemi. The NIMASA Director-
General queried: “If it is Tompolo that
the contract was awarded to, is he not a citizen of Nigeria? Is he an ex-
convict? Is he not more than 18 years
old to own a company? We have
hundreds of vessels which in the past
10 years and up till this moment,
including patrol boats supplied by private individuals to oil multinational
companies, that are working in
conjunction with the Nigeria Navy. Has
there been any complaint anywhere?
Shell Nigeria Exploration and
Production Company and Agip, among other international oil
companies, and the Nigerian Navy, up
till this moment, engage people,
including those who are grumbling
now, to supply them patrol boats. Who
has raised any dust? If anybody has a reason to partner with us and we feel
he is qualified, who are we not to give
him jobs?” Akpobolokemi said many people
kicking against the contract are afraid
they would be exposed. “The illegal
activities they are conducting in the
maritime domain are all going to be
exposed, including illegal bunkering, illegal ship-to-ship transfer and
mystery discharges that are not
authorised. These are things people
are afraid of.” He explained that the
contract was not awarded to Tompolo
as an individual, but to GWVSA, in which the NIMASA boss admitted the
ex-militant has interest, but which, he
said, had been verified to have the
capability to render the required
service. “The contract awarded to
GWVSA is a fair deal to Nigerians,” he maintained

cashcpt:

B4 nko? So u don't know that Tompolo and Asari are some of the biggest beneficiaries of Jonathan's presidency

and dont u think gej knows BH boys?

tweener:

very true....d quicker nigerians break dat mentality d better 4 us.

abi na. . . I thought gej himself said something about knowing those behind BH? so why are u guys jumping? Una be puma? If gej knows them, then whats stopping him from arresting them.

ujchief:
Even if he puts the statement this way, 'I Gen. Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, Mni, Fsi, Gcon, according to the demands of Edwin Clark, hereby denounce sponsoring or associating with boko haram. This i solemnly vow'. You wil stil have problem believing him.

correct