We’ll break oil cabal – Tompolo

Government Ekpemupolo.. wants a fair share of the oil

 

HE is popularly known as Tompolo, an ex-militant leader that once evoked terror in the Niger-Delta. Most people don’t know him by his bonafide name, Government Ekpemupolo, not to mention that he is a High Chief of Gbaramatu kingdom, Warri South-West Local Government Area of Delta State.

Looking at his little frame, you would never believe that he was the founder of the dreaded Movement for Emancipation of the Niger-Delta, MEND, and since 2009, when he accepted amnesty; he has kept his cards very close to his chest. Even when he became a subject of controversy over the award of a mouthwatering contract to his company by the Federal Government to provide security on the nation’s territorial waters, he remained taciturn.

But the “generalissimo,” as he was known in the militant world, came out of the cocoon, last week, and spoke to our source in a no holds barred interview. He cleared the air on the controversial  contract, opened up on why the nation’s  oil cabal is after him; how he plans to stop them from looting the country’s resources, what really propelled the Ijaw/Itsekiri crisis, his once dreaded militant hideaway, Camp 5, Niger-Delta struggle, Henry Okah and lots more.  Excerpts.

YOUR real name is Government Ekpemupolo, but you are popularly known as Tompolo, a nickname that rouses fear in people because of your dexterity as a former militant leader. How did you come about the name?

Tompolo is my father’s company’s name and then, I was like the director of operations. Almost everybody calls me Tompolo  because I was the one running the company – that is how the name came about.

What kind of company?

Tompolo Nigeria Limited is a company we have been operating these past 17 years, from Tompolo and Sons to Tompolo Nigeria Limited.

 It deals on what?

It is a general contracting company.

Your first name is Government and I believe you know what government means. How did you father come about the name? Was he expecting you to become government later in your life?

Government is my name, it was given to me by my father’s friend when I was born and it overshadowed every other name.

Where is this your father’s friend from and what warranted his giving you the name?

I was a kid then, I do not know much about it, but from what my father told me, he simply told him that this is the name for this young man and everybody agreed with him.

Looking at your quiet mien, one will never believe that you are the former militant generalissimo that caused a lot of panic in the Niger-Delta. What really propelled you into arms struggle?

What prompted me and maybe a few other people like Paul, Dennis, Ketson, Kingsley Otuaro, Oboko Bello, Dan, George Timinimi and others, was that our God-given land was taken over by our neighbour, the Itsekiri. In the eighties, there was a time when the Itsekiri people came to say they wanted to collect rent from Okerenkoko people, a town that is today an Ijaw community in Gbaramatu kingdom. Also in my father’s land, which is Egwa community,we are still having cases pending in the Supreme Court. 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.

Early awareness

You know how our people used to live. They accommodated and lived together with them, but because this early awareness was not in our people, they now used this kangaroo court judgment and at the end say they are the owners of Gbaramatu. Even as we speak, we are still facing cases like this in Ogbe-Ijoh. I was following my father’s elder brother, late Papa Gbamido Ekpemupolo as he went about these cases from one court to another, either in Benin, Warri or Abuja. So when we came to find out that if we don’t stand firm that we will be forced to pay rent to our neighbour, we now said for once, let us take our lives in our hands and fight this battle. That is where the battle between us and our Itsekiri brothers started.

The second stage was the relocation of headquarters of Warri South-West local government area from Ogbe-Ijoh to Ogidigben, an Itsekiri community. However, I have a personal pain. My main concern is this and I will give an instance: If my father told me, my son, this table belongs to me, but people are taking from me by force, then, you know, as a son, you will always keep it in your mind and you grow up to a stage that you can work with it, you will do your work.

What of the larger Niger-Delta struggle, what brought you into it?

The Niger-Delta struggle is something our elder brother, Isaac Adaka-Boro and others started. We know that what is keeping this country together is the oil that is produced in our place and we are not getting anything out of it. And we know that if this oil was to be in the North, it is what they give to government that government would take. Our opinion is that we are the owners of the oil and want to get our fair share.

It was alleged that before the Itsekiri/Ijaw crisis, you were actually into oil bunkering and that was what kept you going?

I think every reasonable man and woman knows that I am not into oil bunkering. Even before 1997, I was working with my father. As the eldest son, I was the person in charge of my father’s business.

Father’s business

My father was one of the contractors …even the contracts we were handling then with Gulf, not Chevron, was not small by obtainable standards. Everybody knows that my father was a contractor. I am not into oil business. My name became associated with oil business when I was in Camp 5 (the militant camp that was destroyed in 2009 by the Joint Task Force, JTF, on Niger-Delta). You see, 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.

When any vessel comes in from Escravos to Forcados to load crude oil, we have Customs, DPR, Navy, Army, Police and Airforce, everybody is there in Chevron yard. That is why no security person can confront me that I am a bunkerer. Everybody knows that I am not a bunkerer and that is the more reason why I am surviving up till date.

Talking about Camp 5, how did you come about the place. It has buildings patterned into a barrack structure with training field and an adjoining canal. Did you build the camp?

No, when we started this struggle, our base was a personal house at Okerenkoko and that was the place everybody was using. We called the place Abuja. You know if you want to achieve your aim and objectives, you cannot stay in the midst of people to do a genuine struggle.  Also, there is a deity, Egbesu, that we used to fight this war and there are things that you cannot involve yourselves.

Like maybe you are going out for operation tomorrow, you will not sleep with your wife and you will not even eat food that a woman prepared.

For me to confront the Nigerian government to a stage where we would be recognized, I needed to move my people out of Okerenkoko, that was how I went to fence… there is a place before Camp 5, which is Iroko, we went there, but Camp 5 was a camp that Julius Berger Construction Company built I think in the eighties, so the structures were there.

Money to build new structures

I just went there to clear the place because I didn’t have money to build new structures. And the place is strategic, you know, so I now roofed the houses and base in Camp 5 and I was there. A lot of people were coming and you had to have a place for them to sit down and you talk with them on the struggle.

My intention was not to kill innocent person and that was the reason why even at the point of open confrontation, maybe  if I saw that the soldiers were seriously injured, I would bring them into my camp, given them treatment and take them back.

Is this really true?

Yes, that was what I was doing and a lot of security people can attest to that.

Okay, how did the name Camp 5 come about?

Julius Berger was having a lot of camps; they had camp 3, camp 4, camp 6 and camp 5. That was the name that was given to that place by Julius Berger.

It was the Niger-Delta struggle that gave birth to the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger-Delta, MEND. There is controversy up till date on the formation and leadership of this group. How was it formed and who is the leader?

I think that it is not an issue that people will argue about; every reasonable person knows that I am the founder of MEND. Like I am here, I have people who are graduates (pointing to one of them who was with him during this interview), I did not go to school, so anything concerning paper work, they are the people to handle it. I am not the only person though, 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.

You see, most of these ‘generals’ you see today that are everywhere, I produced them, except the leader of the Niger-Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, NDPVF, Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari and Ateke Tom; every other ‘general’ that you are hearing their names, blah, blah, blah, I produced them from Camp 5. But you know, when somebody is doing something, especially when money comes, you know power, everybody will support it, even today, all of them know that I am their leader.

What is the involvement of Henry Okah in MEND? He is also being referred to as the leader of MEND?

(Voice rising) I think I will not discuss much on that, but if not for the recent happenings, 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.

What was really the vision of MEND that time?

MEND- the name MEND, our vision was to fight for our people, free them from bondage, which was the essence of MEND. And that was the reason Alhaji Dokubo-Asari and former governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, were arrested and the N1.5 billion that was supposed to be paid to Bayelsa people was not paid. Even till now, we are waiting, MEND had to mount pressure on the Nigerian government. Even Henry Okah before he was released, I mean this last one before his present predicament, we fought and they were released.

With the present situation of things in the Niger-Delta, can you boldly say that MEND is dead?

MEND, for now, as all of us came out to embrace amnesty; I think the issue of MEND is over. Today, if anybody is using MEND on any platform, I think we should call the person to come and give us the reason he is doing that. If there is any reason today or tomorrow for us to go back to the creek, and we decide to use MEND, then we can bring it back. But for now, MEND is nowhere, anybody that is using MEND is using it for his own personal interest.

In 2009, that was three years ago, the JTF declared you wanted, razed your house at Oporoza and the palace of your royal father, but you simply disappeared. The task force could not get you and there was information that you escaped from the country. Can you tell us how you survived the manhunt without being caught?

That is a long story. When they were bombing Oporoza and Camp 5, I was there. The belief I have up till date is that I am into a genuine struggle and so, no amount of bomb or gun can do anything to me and others that are in it. We were doing our community festival when the army went and bombed Oporoza with small children, women and everybody in the gathering. One person was seriously injured and because of lack of medical care, he died. The person is my brother, even now, the daughter is with me, I left her an hour ago to come and wait for this interview. So, I was there and after the whole battle, as they were going from one village to another village, I was there monitoring them.

Bombing of Oporoza

Even the day Okerenkoko was burnt down, I was there. My father’s village was burnt down, you know, when they came back to loot Oporoza, I was there because that is my place. One can do all sorts of things, but for one to go to your village and get to where you are, it is not an easy matter. It was after this that I quickly moved out of the country for about two weeks.

I know that I can always save my people and when I came back, I was in touch with top government functionaries, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Ministers and even the JTF Commander, who was hunting for me. I called him and asked him: You said you want to get me dead or alive? I told him it was not possible and he said no, he would get me, and I told him; if you can do it, carry on.

Are you talking about Major-General Mohammed Sarkin-Bello or Brigadier General Rimtip?

I was talking to Rimtip and the other one, Mohammed, the one who was in-charge of the operation directly.

You mean when you were right there in Oporoza or you were hiding in the forest when the soldiers were searching for you?

I was there. There was even a day when they came to Okerenkoko, I was there, after the burning down of the place, I was there, it is my area, and nobody can drive me out of the place.

 You later accepted amnesty; can you tell us the circumstance that made you to accept amnesty?

You know when I came back, I fought back, it was then I attacked Chevron and went to Atlas Cove in Lagos. After then, the government now realized that the matter was far more than it was thinking as we had the capacity to cripple the economy.

MEND claimed responsibility for these attacks and because the JTF was searching for you, nobody would think you were behind it?

After these particular attacks, which were massive, everybody was calling me that we should settle this matter, that as soon as I come out to accept amnesty, the government too would do what they are supposed to do for us. So because of the pressure on me, I told myself, let me try to save my people, who were being killed and harassed by soldiers under the pretext that they were searching for me.

You know, majority of the people of Gbaramatu were out of their villages and communities for about three months because of this problem. So, I came out, it was myself and two other persons, I now said, if they want to kill anybody, I will surrender myself, instead of allowing them to kill my people. So I went straight to Abuja, I did not go with police, I did not go with anything, I went straight to Abuja, I went straight to meet the then President, Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua and he said that it was himself who asked them to declare me wanted. And that he was very sorry and that we should put heads together and build Nigeria together. So I agreed with him and accepted amnesty.

At the time you went to Abuja, you were still being looked for by the JTF and I know I asked him at that time, he said you would be arrested once you were seen because you had not accepted amnesty. So how did you find yourself in Abuja with Yar’Adua, did you fly, which road did you pass?

I know my way to Abuja, how I got there is between me and my God.

K-SOLO AND KIKELOMO`S MARRIAGE HITS THE ROCK

K-Solo and Kikelomo on their wedding day.

Top music producer K-Solo married Kikelomo Akinkunmi in November 2011. By May 2012, the marriage had crashed. The wife of K- Solo, Kikelomo told City People in an exclusive interview that the marriage hit the rock because K-Solo was in it for money and also because he assaulted her so much she lost the pregnancy she was carrying when they got married.

What Kikelomo told City People magazine

 



Kikelomo's story...
K-Solo and I met on Facebook in April 2011 and continued our friendship on Blackberry. We eventually met face to face at a show in Eko Hotel in Lagos. I am not really based in Lagos. I am always in Warri, Port Harcourt, South Africa or Cameroon. I am always traveling because of my business. But because of K-Solo I started coming to Lagos frequently after we started dating.

By August of 2011 we started having issues. He was actually scamming one girl. One Leilani Ifeoma in Houston, Texas. Apparently they have not met physically, they met on the internet and she was also into entertainment so K-Solo started scamming her, collecting money from her and promising her marriage. The day I got to know I was in his house. He left his phone and stepped out, so I picked the call and I told her I am K-Solo's wife  and the lady said it wasn't possible because they were planning to get married. When I asked him about her, he said please don't mind her, and later said he was sorry. But when I continued to demand for answers, he started beating me despite the fact that I was pregnant. He carried a lamp and threw at me.

Before then, when I met him, he told me he wanted to shoot a video for his song 'Ni Igboro; and said he didn't have money for it. I gave him N515, 000 for the video shoot. I gave him another N100, 000 some weeks before the video shoot. All through this I didn't know he had a girlfriend that he had been living with for seven years. Each time I go to the studio, I see her there with a K-Solo tattoo on her arm. When I asked him who she was, he said she was his sister's daughter. I later found out that when I gave him the money for the video shoot, he used half of it to celebrate a birthday for Bimbo.

A few weeks later, the lady in the US, Ify, called his phone and I picked it up. When I told him I'd picked his call, he got angry and went outside the house to go talk with the lady. He was begging the girl and lying that I was his sister. He even asked her if she was ready to sponsor their wedding. After listening in on the conservation, I told him then and there that the relationship was over, that I wanted my N515, 000 back. Not just that, I'd spend a lot of money on him. He started begging and crying. A few days later, I travelled to South Africa.

While in South Africa, he kept calling and begging and I eventually forgave him because I was pregnant and he convinced me he was a changed man. He actually told me he had gone for deliverance. That was when we decided to get married. The only money K-Solo spent on the wedding was N15, 000 for wedding invites. I took care of everything. The cloth K-Solo was wearing, my own, his pilot suits, clothes, shoes, bag his mum wore, the feeding and drinks. I did everything. I spend over N3.5 million.

On the night of the wedding, K-Solo woke me up around 3am and said now that he's my husband, when am I going to make him a signatory to my company's account, and when am I going to change all my property to his name. I got scared and first thing in the morning I called my brother and told him what happened. He advised me to move all my documents, chequebooks out of the house, which I did. Whenever I asked for money for feeding or upkeep, he would shout at me and say 'What's the meaning of that? Don't you have more money than me? What did I marry you for?

K-Solo started beating me up after the wedding and I lost the baby I was carrying when we got married on the 26th of November.

The marriage finally crashed in February 2012 when he called me and told me that Timaya just bought a Nigerian used Range Rover sport, that he wants me to buy him a brand new Range Rover worth 7.5 million and also put N10million in his account. I told him that even if I had the money, I won't do it because I expect him to talk about how to invest money in productive business and not buying Range Rover. Moreover, I gave K-Solo N2million to pay for house rent for our 4-bedroom home at Ogba Medium estate, but he only gave the agent N1million and squandered the remaining money to buy Hublot wrist watches, Blackberry phones expensive shoes and designer wears. When I pointed this out to him, he told me that he will make the marriage miserable for me. On February 14th, after a misunderstanding, K-Solo packed a few of his things and moved to his mother's house. I left our home too but was advised to go back since our marriage was still young. Because I wanted to make it work, I took my brother to K-Solo's mother's house to apologise to him and his mum. He later returned home. But immediately he returned, he asked me if I was ready to buy him the Range Rover and I told him it wasn't going to happen.

So in March we went to Shoprite and he wanted me to buy two wine glasses that cost N2, 500 each. I suggested that we should open our wedding gifts that there definitely will be wine glasses somewhere, and he just slapped me right there in Shoprite, and as he was coming close to me I ran into the car park, he ran after me, removed his belt and started beating me. People started taking pictures of us and some guys tried to drag him away, by then, my right eye started bleeding. While they were trying to calm him down, he ran away from them and went to carry a stone and threw it at me, and I just passed out. I woke up in the hospital and what he told my family was that I fell. he started begging me and crying that it was the devil's work.

After that beating, I stopped doing everything I used to do financially in our home and he became very frustrated and aggressive. But the marriage finally packed on a particular night I came back home late from going to buy fruits for the house. Immediately I entered the house, he got up and started shouting at me. He started coming close, and I tried to leave the room, but he dragged me back, locked the door and threw the key in the drawer. He started beating me, slapping me and broke a coke bottle on my forehead. I stood up and ran to the bathroom, he followed me, took the mopping stick, broke it and started hitting my stomach that the pregnancy must come out. By then I was pregnant again. I was bleeding on my forehead, and he picked up the washing machine in the bathroom and threw it at me. I was just there bleeding and lifeless, so finally some of his boys were able to break the door and they started holding him back. The guys tried to stop the bleeding on my forehead but couldn't stop the one underneath. They tried to take me to the hospital but K-Solo prevented them. So I was bleeding from 11pm to 7am the following morning, which was when they finally took me to the hospital. By the time I returned from the hospital, he had moved his things from the house. That was when I discovered that my trinkets box with gold over N2.5million was missing and this was not the first time he's stealing from me. I wrote a petition to the commissioner of police and on May 29th, the police went to pick him up. The case is with the police and I told them all I want is my trinkets back and for him to sign an undertaken that he will never touch me again and threaten to kill me. He has said he's not the owner of the pregnancy, which is fine with me. I don't want him to come close to the child and the child will not bear his name. I spoke with K-Solo`s publicist who said that K-Solo still believes that Kikelomo is still his wife and that all the allegations of Kikelomo against K-Solo are all lies and that K-Solo said that he does not want to join issues with her( Kikelomo}.