Tompolo
When ex-militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, the
Ibe-Ebidouwei of Ijaw nation, hounded underground by security agents, in
an open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari in September last year,
raised the alarm that security agents had been looting facilities at his
Waterfront and Jetty in Warri, powers-that-be at the Nigerian Navy
Ship, NNS Delta, Warri, summarily dismissed the allegation.
The waterfront property, near the Chevron Clinic, Edjeba, Warri
South Local Government Council, was seized by the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission, EFCC, investigating sundry charges against Tompolo,
on the orders of a Federal High Court in 2016 and handed over to NNS
Delta for safekeeping.
The ex-militant leader reportedly had intention to build a
world-class training institution after the Federal Government purchased
his Diving Institute at Kurutie community as temporary site for the
take-off of the Nigeria Maritime University, NMU, Okerenkoko, and had
moved heavy duty and earth- moving equipment, building materials,
including granite, sand, iron rod of all sizes, barge and tug-boat
building plates (steels), to the site before his travails with the
current administration started.
His words to Buhari in September, 2017: “Let me use this medium
to also inform the world that the Nigerian Navy under the behest of
President Buhari administration has looted my Waterfront and Jetty
facilities maliciously and unlawfully seized by the EFCC.
“ In the last taken inventory of my facility, there was over
N10 billion worth of building and other materials in the jetty, but
information reaching me now has it that the jetty has been stripped bare
by service personnel of the Joint Task Force, JTF,
“Some of the materials presumably have been taken to northern
Nigeria. How could this happen under your watch? As rightly observed by
other well-meaning Nigerians, let me echo their thoughts by asking
‘where is the much touted anti-corruption crusade?” he asked.
Frenzied attempts
Tompolo’s younger brother and former Chairman, Warri South-West
Local Government Area, Mr. George Ekpemupolo, told NDV: “Before
Tompolo’s open letter, we made frantic efforts to reach the head of the
security agency, but they did not listen to us. We even took the matter
to court, but they never bothered to come to court.
“When we contacted the Commander of the Navy at the time in
Warri over the matter, he insisted that the materials in the Waterfront
were intact and queried whether we want to teach him his work when we
probed further,” he asserted.
Osinbajo also alerted
A dependable source also hinted that when the Vice- President,
Prof. Yemi Osinbajo visited Gbaramatu Kingdom, Delta State in August,
last year, he was apprised of the theft by Navy personnel.
Cat let out of the bag 10 months after
However, about 10 months later, precisely, Sunday, July 22, 2018, a
team of policemen from the ‘A’ Division in Warri, arrested a naval
personnel, Lance Corporal Usman Shaibu, driver of a Mercedez Benz self
loader, Okugbe Lucky and his conductor, Chime Chukwuka, while removing
an electric transformer from the ex-militant leader’s jetty.
The lance corporal named his naval accomplices, a staff sergeant
and sergeant, who are reportedly on the run. The Police team that
carried out the operation was led by CSP Kelvin Zuokumor, which has
mounted an intensive search for the fleeing naval personnel.
Shaibu allegedly revealed that he and his accomplices were going to sell the stolen transformer at N700, 000.
Suspected cover up
NDV learned that there have been several attempts by top naval
officials to cover up the disgraceful act since the incident, while a
source hinted: “The systematic looting of Tompolo Waterfront facilities
by the security agents deployed to guard the property has been an open
secret among naval personnel despite the pretences by their superiors.
“Many navy officials knew about the looting and they struggled
to be posted to the place because they were looting the place. It was
something they did turn by turn,” the source added.
How suspects were tracked – George Ekpemupolo
Tompolo’s brother, Mr. Ekpemupolo, told NDV: “There was a time
somebody called me and said that people were using boat to load iron
rods from my elder brother’s jetty and they moved them to Ugbuwangue
jetty, from where they are loaded onto a truck there. He added that navy
personnel are the ones selling the materials.
“Of course, they are because they are the ones in possession of
the property. I rushed down to Ugbuwangue, immediately I got there, I
saw a 911 truck on the Express Road just leaving the place, that was
before my brother did the publication, last year.
“After that time, I was still receiving information because I
have my contacts, sometimes it is that a boat entered the Chevron Yard
and they were loading things from my brother’s jetty, but we could not
get access to the jetty.
“On some occasions, we reached the navy, but the then
commanding officer would tell t me categorically that I am not in the
position to teach him his job and that as far as that place is
concerned, we should steer clear. He said his men were on duty there and
we should forget all that we are hear, that there are rumours etc.,” he asserted.
According to him: “After that one, there were series of cases,
even there was a day somebody called me to say they want to sell AGO to
me and I asked them where they got it from and that I do not buy AGO
anyhow because of the nature of my equipment. They said it is clean AGO
taken from Tompolo’s tank in the jetty.”
Close watch on jetty entrance
“We tried to liaise with other security agents to catch the
people red-handed, but all efforts proved abortive. What we then did was
to place surveillance at the entrance of the jetty.
The operation in
which these people were caught was not the first time; it was in the
third operation that we got hold of them.
“In the first one, the truck was already out of the jetty
before we got there; the second one, we waited and waited, the truck was
inside, but we had no authority to go inside. But when we tried to
contact the Navy, they did not answer me. In fact, they warned me not to
call them as far as the matter is concerned,” the former local government chair disclosed.
Day of reckoning
His words: “This last operation in which we caught some of
them; it was the same contacts that called me, saying that they saw a
self-loader truck entering Tompolo’s jetty. I rushed down to the Police,
I did not even bother to call the Navy, and we went there to wait for
them. Less than 20 minutes after we came, they were coming out with the
transformer.
“That was the point at which the police arrested the truck, the
Navy officer, who pleaded that we should leave the truck, that he would
give us money and all the nonsense he was promising. When he got to the
police station, the Navy people wanted to release him that same day,
insisting that they are the ones that will treat the matter and will
revert to the police later.
“And that evening, it was like the Commissioner of Police
insisted that the man should remain in Police custody until the
following day. The following day, around 10.00 am, the Navy came with
their bus, you understand, it’s like the police gave them the Navy man
that was arrested and up till August 3, we did not hear anything from
the Navy.
“So I was putting pressure on the Police because I wanted to
know the present situation of things on the matter. They said I should
not bother because they had sent a letter to the Navy that they would
want to go to the jetty to inspect the scene of the incident. I learnt
that they said they wanted the complainant, the Police and the Navy to
go there and look at the place.
Navy denied us access to jetty
“But on that fateful day, that early morning, when we got to
Tompolo’s jetty, the Navy denied us access to the place. This was on
August 3, the Navy official that went with the police maintained that as
far as he was concerned, the property is government property, so they
can only allow the Police to enter to check whatever they want to check,
but not those of us from Tompolo’s side,” he said.
Ekpemupolo, who spoke to NDV on phone, asserted: “That day,
August 3, was the last time we heard from the Police on the matter. From
that day till date, we have not heard anything from the Police and
Navy. But a senior police officer that I called said they were still
waiting for the Navy, that whenever they were done, they will refer the
case back to the Police.”
Navy keeps mum
Efforts by NDV to speak to the Commanding Officer of the NNS Delta,
Commodore Ibrahim Dewu, were abortive, as one of our reporters and
go-between from another news media were told bluntly that the Navy did
not want to make any comment on the matter.
However, Commodore Dewu was not in-charge when the looting started,
but the guards continued under his watch until one of them was
disgraced in the market square.
Police awaiting Navy admin procedure to take over suspect – CP
Commissioner of Police, Delta State, Mr. Muhammad Mustafa, who spoke to NDV on the episode, said: “Crime
has been committed, the suspect is in our custody but we have given him
to the Nigerian Navy, they told us that they needed to carry out their
own part of investigation because he is a security agent and you do not
take a serving member to court. They will finish their own part before
they hand over to us.”
He maintained that the Navy did not obstruct the police in any manner in the course of their investigation, saying: “The Navy has already reduced the officer in his rank; probably he is a habitual person, so there is no complication at all.
“Even the military (Army) has just transferred one to us, who
was said to have killed a policeman somewhere around Jesse during a
burial ceremony. They left to duty post, went to where people were
scampering for food and in the end, the policeman was killed. They
finished their in-house thing, handed over to us, we have arraigned
him.”
“The same thing with the navy, they were in our custody, “A”
Division in Warri arrested them, did investigation, everything, handed
over to them to finish their administrative part of it, of course, they
will bring him back for prosecution.
“Investigation has been done, so when he comes back, they
finish it. Police do not take serving personnel to court that way; we
have to write their organization, they finish some vital aspects before
handing over to us,” the commissioner disclosed.
***
Via Vanguard
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