I wish to respond to the piece written by one Peter Otabor with the above caption.
Ordinarily, one would have ignore it as a write up by an anti Niger-Delta element, but on a second thought decided to respond for two reasons: Firstly to set the records straight so that the teaming readers of Saharareporters all over the world will not regard Mr Otabor's piece as the truth especially in the face of his supposed claim as an informed person writing the truth and secondly in respond to Mr Otabor's concluding remark that 'anybody who has more truths should come out and challenge him' and that is exactly what i intend to do by coming up with more truths about the recent situation in the Niger-Delta.
Mr Otabor did not tell the readers anything about himself nor the source of his knowledge about the truths that he claims to be writing about apart from newspaper reports that many Nigerians are aware of, hence it becomes difficult to judge the veracity of Mr Otabor's account that he titled,'Some truths...'. In order not to fall into Mr Otabor's error,i will start by introducing myself to the readers so as to show the background and vantage position i am writing from. Unlike Mr Otabor, the record stated here are mostly from my personal knowledge and not the hearsay or mainly newspaper reports that Mr Otabor relied on.
I hail from Ogbe-Ijoh, headquarters of Warri South-South Local Government Area of Delta and have lived in and around Warri and its environs most part of my life until recently when i travelled to Europe for studies and know Tompolo and some other freedom fighters personally and have related with them having been part of most of the struggles aganist oppression ranging from the Warri political crisis to the historic Kaiama Declaration up to the present day agitations.
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To start with Mr Otabor asserted that 'Tompolo is a business man and not a freedom fighter and challenge anyone to tell the public when he has called for resource control or stated his demand'. My short respond is that Mr Otabor failed to appreciate what collective struggle is all about. In a struggle, different people are assigned different responsibilities and the position of the group or what the spokesperson says is the position of everybody. Since Tompolo became part of struggles aganist oppression from the Warri crisis to the general Niger-Delta agitation, he has always done so under collective umbrella such as the Federated Niger-Delta Ijaw Communities (FNDIC), Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Ijaw Youths Leadership Forum, etc. As such the position of FNDIC or IYC as the case may be on the issues affecting the Niger-Delta is deemed to be his position. If Mr Otabor has been following the Niger-Delta struggle closely, he should have read the several publications by FNDIC and more recently by the Ijaw Youths Leadership Forum where Tompolo signed as the Mobilisation Officer and Convener respectively. Does these publications calling for resource control and true federalism not sufficient evidence of Tompolo's demands? In addition, despite the fact that Tompolo is not the type that looks for media attention, he has in some instance expressed his demands and anger. I refer readers to the documentary 'SWEET CRUDE' sponsored by an NGO from the United States. The full video is available on Youtube and Tompolo in that documentary expressed his reasons for being involve in the struggle.
In responds to the claim that Tompolo is businessman, one can be a businessman and a fighter at the same time. In short, in order to sustain a struggle, a leader ought to have a sustainable means of income, especially so as not to compromise the struggle. Even the late Ken Saro Wiwa was a businessman and an Environmental Activist. There is no disputing the fact that Tompolo became relatively successful in business at a very young age.
Mr Otubor also claimed that Tompolo took control of the Delta waterways and used his closeness with Ibori to grow in leaps and bounds. This assertion goes to show that contrary to Mr Otabor's claim of throwing light, he is ignorant about Tompolo's antecedent. In the first place, Tompolo cannot be said to use his closeness to Ibori ( if he was close to Governor Ibori at all in the real sense of the word) to grow in leap and bounds. Tompolo unlike some other freedom fighters is not a product of any politician and as such does not need to be close to any political office holder to have control. His popularity and control is because of his transparency and honest leadership. He cammand respect among the old and young in Ijawland because he is very honest and generous. Even before Ibori became Governor in 1999, Tompolo was already doing business with multinational companies and was making money as a Contractor. That was even before 2004 and not because of his closeness with Governor Ibori nor his control of the waterways as Mr Otabor claimed. It will interest readers to note that the name 'Tompolo' is actually his registered business name with the Corporate Affairs Commission, Abuja. His full name as most readers are aware is Government Ekpemupolo. This goes to show that he was successful in business before he even join the struggle, hence his business name is more popular that his real name.
Another claim that is worthy of response to is the assertion that oil companies usually pay Tompolo in dollars to secure the safety of their materials. The question is, how did Mr Otabor got to know that? When one is writing a piece for publication,it is important to support assertions with facts and figure. In the absence of any fact and figure, such as the name of companies, how and where or which bank account the dollars were paid into, all the assertions amounts to a mere allegation or hearsay and cannot be taken as the truth.
Mr Otabor also asserted that Tompolo was paid 800 million Naria to access the repair of the NGC damaged pipeline, again like other claims it is bereft of facts and figures, hence they do not deserve to be taken seriously. However, i do not see anything wrong in Tompolo insisting on a local Contractor to effect pipeline repairs. In short, this has been part of Tompolo's struggle that indigenous Contractors should be given major contracts in the oil and gas industry and not the case where they are given only minor contracts why outsiders are given the major contracts.
Another spurious allegation is the one relating to the building of the Palace of the Traditional Ruler (Pere) of Gbaramatu. Otabor asserted that it was built by Governor Uduaghan on the prompting of Tompolo. What a monumental lie! It ia very appalling that someone could hold his pen and write such a lie and publish it for the comsumption of the general publiic just in an attempt to tanish the reputation of Tompolo and satisfy his 'paymasters'. It is a notorious fact that the Palace of the Pere of Gbaramatu was built through communal efforts and not by any government or oil company. In short, i am not aware if the Uduaghan adminsitration has started and completed a project worth the cost of the destroyed Pere's Palace in any community in the riverine areas of Delta State for the past two years. Again, the building of the Palace of the Pere of Gbaramatu brings to the fore one of the reasons why Tompolo is popular among the Ijaw people. This writer visited Gbaramatu on two occassions in 2007 and saw Tompolo personally involved in the supervision of the Palace building and in he said in the course of our disscussion with him that he want to ensure that the Pere of Gbaramatu has a befitting Palace. This goes to show the man Tompolo, a true and patriotic community leader, who is interested in the progress of his community. If Mr Otabor is serious with his assertion i challenge him to come up with the name of the Contractor who was awarded the contract, the cost and when by the Delta State Government? I will not say more on this point!
On the visit of Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan to Tompolo and some other freedom fighters, it was a peace mission and it only confirms the relevance of Tompolo to the Niger-Delta strugglee. In short, according to Alhaji Asari Dokubo, in his interview of June 25, 2009 after his release from detention by the SSS, on Tompolo, he said, 'Tompolo was the best material they (FG) had to bring peace to the Niger-Delta because everyone of us have respect for the young man. He is level-headed. He does not kill people, he does not rape, or destroy Communities like some of the other militants'. What else can one say, Alhaji Dokubo has said it all!
On the cause of the recent attack on Camp 5 and innocent Communities, again it shows Mr Otabor's bias account. There are two versions of the cause of the conflict. One by the JTF and the other by the Communities/ Freedom Fighters. The account Mr Otabor presented as the cause of the crisis is the one given by the JTF. If Mr Otabor is truly objective, he should have balance the story especially in view of the fact that he was not present at the scene of the incident. I too do not know exactly what happened as i had been in Europe for sometime now and my telephone investigation was restrictive as i do not have a military contact who was at the scene to inquire about their account personally, but i have had the opportunity to speak with some of those who were at the scene and close. They alleged that it was the military who came to attack them first and that they only retaliated in self defence. However, an objective writer cannot take this account as the true account without further investigation because the persons who told me the story are interested parties. Though,it is very much unlikely that the Tompolo i know and recently has been involve in peace efforts will order attack on soldiers.
We can get an idea of some of the causes of conflicts between militants / freedom fighters and JTF from the recent arrest of Alhaji Dokubo at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos. It is simple logic that if either the SSS or the Police want the attention of a citizen, the proper thing is to invite the person, but in the case of the Asari, the SSS swooped on him at the airport and took him away. President Yar'Adua only ordered his immediate release because it makes nonesense of his amnesty and peace process. Back to the cause of the recent crisis. Using the Asari's arrest as a case study, if that incident had happened somewhere in the creeks, two likely things would have happened.There would have been a confrontation between the SSS and Asari or his supporters and secondly the military would have denied that they were the aggressors. In short, President Yar'Adua even denied that Asari was arrested! It is a fact that in order to sustain their stay in the Niger-Delta and justify their budgect, JTF sometimes deliberately ignite crisis in the Niger-Delta. A possible reason for this is the reason Mr Otabor alluded to that, ' posting to the Niger-Delta is one of the lucrative posting'. Therefore, Mr Otabor account of the cause of the recent crisis should not be taken as the truth.
On Tompolo been made the head of the waterways by Governor Uduaghan, that is another of Mr Otabor's lies and it is a pity. The true position is that on assumption of office as Governor of Delta State, the first thing Governor Uduaghan did was to appoint the Delta State Waterways Security Committe under the Chairmanship of Mr George Timinimi, present Commissioner for Water Resources, Delta State and the Committee is still in existence. This fact is notorious to any informed Nigerian home and abroad and is verifiable. Can Mr Otabor who claimed to be informed provide a rebutal to this obvious fact?
In response to the assertion that the May conflict between the miliary and militants is not the first time militants have killed soldirers again shows Mr Otabor's lopsided story. It is on record that sometime in 2006, Ijaw youths who were on a peace mission to Lotugbene Community in Bayelsa State to effect the release of an SPDC staff that was detained by their host Community arising from disagrement between the Community and SPDC were ambused and killed by the JTF. The truth is that they have be conflicts between the JTF and some Freedom fighters and in some cases with kidnappers in the Niger Delta ( This writer does not support kidnapping in any form). One can only tell the true cause of the conflicts if you were at the scene of the incident. Also when such conflict occurs, both sides usually record casualties.
On the assertion that militancy in the Niger-Delta is only being carried out by Ijaws, though not a serious point, but it is pertinet to point out some facts. There is no dispute about the fact that the Ijaw people have made the greatest sacrifice to fight aganist the injustice in the Niger-Delta, both materially and otherwise. Though the efforts of other nationalities such as Ogoni and some personalities like Prof Sagay, Prof. Ijeoma and others is worthy of commendation. This is not surprising having regard to the fact that the ijaws are the majority in the Niger-Delta and has a responsibility to provide leadership. However, while the ijaws are playing their leadership role, other ethnic nationalities and individuals should complement and not to play the role of 'spoilers' because of little gains like Mr Otabor. If one may ask, what is the effort of people like Mr Otabor to the Niger-Delta struggle, if he is a Niger-Deltan or is the injustice not glaring enough to him? Should he not hide his head in shame when people like Tompolo who may not be as educated as him can come out and fight aganist injustice?
The whole piece even in some instances shows lack of coherence and complete misrepresentation. What is wrong if Alhaji Asari goes to Ekiti to campaign for Dr Fayemi? Is Asari not a Nigerian and qualified to canvas vote for Candidate of his choice? What has it to do with the cause of the recent onslaught in the Niger-Delta? It shows the mind of a confused writer! Obviously, Mr Otabor's motivation for wrting the piece is not far from fear of losing his job or contract in one of the oil companies or simply executing his paymasters script!
On Ijaw NGOs, let Mr Otabor know that the success of Ijaw NGOs is because of the tenacity of the ijaw people in the fight aganist injustice and not because of patronage. As far as i know, if you have good points, newspapers will publish your story and not because you can afford to pay money.
Furthermore, it is not true that Chief (Dr) E.K.Clark, the reputable and indefatigable leader of the Ijaw Nation has not being appealing to militant to drop their guns. It is on record that Chief Clark has being very consistent in his call for the resolution of the Niger-Delta issue. What people like Otabor should realise is that the solution to militants permanently laying down arms is predicated on the just resolution of the Niger-Delta question. Even if the present crop of fighters decide to drop their guns, that will not bring peace to the Niger-Delta. Peace is not the absence of violence, but the presence of justice. Mr Otabor came close to this point when he stated that even if Henry Okah is released today, there will be another demand. Yes, because that does not amount to resolution of the Niger-delta question.
Can Mr Otabor rebute the above facts?
-Eric Omare
Coordinator,
Niger-Deltans in Diaspora Movement,
United Kingdom.
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