I Called MEND Meeting To Douse Tension, Says Tompolo

Ijaw Leader Warns MEND 

SOME ex-commanders of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta have allayed fears that today’s meeting in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, was in relation to the Federal Government’s stoppage of the pipeline surveillance contract awarded to them by former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.

Meanwhile, a prominent Ijaw leader, Sara Igbe, has warned former MEND commanders that the country and the international community would not tolerate the resurgence of armed struggle in the Niger Delta.

Sources in Ijaw National Congress (INC) said the organisation was monitoring development in the Niger Delta and that its response will be predicated on the outcome of the planned MEND meeting in Yenagoa.

The convener of the ex-MEND meeting, Mr. Government Ekpemupulo popularly known as Tompolo, said contrary to speculations that the ex-militants’ gathering was informed by the termination of the pipeline contracts, he and others decided to convene the gathering primarily to explore means of dousing the tension growing among the disarmed youths whose stipends (training allowances and tuition fees) have been delayed for months.

Ekpemupulo noted that in the build up to the Amnesty offer of the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, there was hesitation on the part of most of Niger Delta agitators until God granted him wisdom to provide leadership to encourage others to accept the amnesty.

And under the amnesty programme as inherited by Jonathan, relative peace was enjoyed even as security of life and property was enhanced to an appreciable level.

As a result of this, he said oil production increased from 700 barrels per day to 2.5million barrels per day because aggrieved Niger-Delta youths who inadvertently became agitators, upon the acceptance of the Amnesty offer, refrained from armed agitation to face normal urban life.

He explained that while some of leaders of the groups that made up MEND understand to an extent, the apparent delay in the continued payment of the monthly stipend to the ex-agitators in view of the seeming scrutiny of government agencies, including the Amnesty Office by the current administration, same cannot be said of the majority of beneficiaries of the Amnesty programme.

To this extent, some of us, particularly myself and other leaders have been under intense pressure from ex-agitators, commanders, individuals, parents and guardians as well as communities who are beneficiaries of the Amnesty programme.

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,” said Ekpemupulo. Due to the heightened concerns in the region, he said a decision was taken that a meeting of the collegiate leadership of the platform under which they all operated as agitators could be convened to appraise the situation and possibly, explore means to douse the tension that is growing among the disarmed youths whose stipends (training allowances and tuition fees) have been delayed for months.

According to him, this becomes more compelling in view of the fact that as leaders of the platform that served as midwife to the Amnesty offer, he and others owe the nation a duty to play their roles in order to stem a relapse of the relative peace in the Niger Delta Region.

Therefore, I consider it unfortunate that a section of the Nigerian Nation and the Media have chosen to mischievously thread the path of misinforming the public and right thinking persons by linking the meeting to whatever decision the current government at the centre may have taken in relation to the stoppage of the pipeline surveillance contract, even though payment have not been made for the services rendered in the renewed contract, or termination of appointments. This is highly provocative and despicable.

The tension generated by the meeting is uncalled for, diversionary and mischievous as no evil is intended in whatever form,” said Ekpemupulo.

He said the leaders of MEND appreciate the pressures being mounted by leaders from the Region especially as some have expressed concern that the meeting could be misinterpreted to mean the resurgence of hostilities in the Region, which of course is not the intent of the meeting.

However, we take into account the fact that having embraced peace and remained supportive of various governments at all levels, including President Mohammadu Buhari’s government, we are surprised that a meeting of ex-agitators could prop anxiety.

Hence, we shall ensure our genuine intentions are reflected in our attitude towards peace, security and development of the Region. “Calling off today’s meeting can also be an option, if need be, in order to strengthen our belief in a peaceful Niger Delta,” he said.   Igbe yesterday warned in Port Harcourt that if the ex-militants resort to armed struggle that the federal government would descend heavily on the region.

He stated that the question the rest of the country would ask was why was it that when a son of the Niger Delta was a president for five years and Vice President for three years the region kept quiet and didn’t make much demands of him. According to him, the people of the region under any guise cannot use violence to get development from another president.

He lampooned Jonathan for not considering the development of the Niger Delta a priority while he was in power. Igbe warned the ex-militants not to link the region with the planned probe of the Jonathan’s administration because he never represented the region while he was in power.