Arewa group backs security contract to Tompolo, wants railway added

Coalition of Arewa Civil Society Groups (CACSG) has commended the award of crude oil surveillance contract in the Niger Delta to Chief Government Ekpemupolo, popularly known as Tompolo, urging Federal Government to award security of other critical infrastructure like railway to him.

Reacting to the condemnation by some individuals of the award, the group’s spokesperson, Aminu Abbas, said: “There’s nothing wrong if the Federal Government engages their services to help secure other critical infrastructure, aside the pipeline in our country, to complement the efforts of the armed forces.”

Addressing newsmen in Kaduna, yesterday, CACSG argued “there is need to involve host communities in the quest to ensure proper safeguarding of government facilities,” adding that it’s high time government reached out to people like Tompolo and other gallant individuals to deploy their native strength and expertise to assist the conventional security agencies.

Abbas stressed that having considered the vast experience and capacity of Tompolo in peace and conflict resolution, it amounted to an insult to assign only little portion of the country’s critical infrastructure to him for surveillance.

He asserted: “The Nigerian railway requires surveillance as well; therefore, nothing is wrong if the Federal Government engages their services to help secure other critical prone infrastructure.

“Condemnation of the contract by some groups from the North is baseless; hence we distance the good people of Northern Nigeria from such a myopic action of some faceless groups camouflaging under the name of Arewa.”

According to the group, the era of shadow chasing is over, adding: “What is expected of any concerned Arewa group at this critical time is to engage all concerned stakeholders from within and outside our region to address the lingering insecurity and bring it to a logical end.

“To set the record straight, as at today, the issues affecting us (Arewa), including banditry, cattle rustling, kidnapping and other forms of insecurity that had remained the order of the day, have crippled our region’s economic activities, and if appropriate measures are not taken, nobody can predict the fate of our region in the next one year.”

It used this medium to thank President Muhammadu Buhari for taking the decision.

CACSG expressed confidence that the government awarded the contract to a company with good track record, and familiar with the terrain.