A pan-Ijaw socio-political organisation, Niger Delta Youth for Equity and
Justice (NDYEJ) has commended the Joint Task Force (JTF) for the arrest of
suspected criminals behind the recent gas pipeline explosion from Escravos
to Warri.
The Spokesman of NDYEJ, Sam MacPepple, in a statement in Port Harcourt on
Friday said that the arrest was commendable especially coming after
“accusing fingers have been pointed at the wrong direction” on a repented
Niger-Delta militant, Government Ekpemupolo, popularly known as Tompolo.
He stated that the arrested leader of the gang, Nengi Ikiba, was a
well-known thug of the All Progressive Congress (APC) loyal to ex-former
governor Timipre Sylva and would help the authorities in their
investigations.
The group recalled that Tompolo had before the incident raised the alarm
that some people were planning to bomb crude oil facilities in the Niger
Delta region and attribute it to him but that his concern was disregarded.
Macpepple, however, said that the arrest of Nengi Ikiba and his group had
vindicated Tompolo as he urged the security agencies to investigate the
suspected culprits thoroughly to “unmask their sponsors and motives behind
their action”.
He attributed the explosions to political reasons, stressing that it might
have been a criminal expression of dissatisfaction with the outcome of
election in Bayelsa State.
“It completely beats my imagination that such heinous crime will be
perpetrated just to score cheap political point. To think that they blew
up the gas pipeline from Escravos to Warri down to Lagos and Abuja at
three different points, namely at Opudebulor Okpelama and Kpokpo area,
Chanomi creek and Sabaram behind Chevron Nigeria Limited, all because they
wanted to rope in Tompolo is most bizarre.
“It is however inconceivable that the bombing of such critical national
assets was done for purely political reasons and this is a very important
point the relevant authorities must thoroughly investigate to get to the
root of the explosions. Of course,Tompolo was right when he said those
behind the bombing did it because they were dissatisfied with the
re-election of Governor Henry Seriake Dickson and because of his support
for him”, MacPepple said.
He admonished those who were still aggrieved as a result of the outcome of
the Bayelsa State governorship election not to resort to destruction of
national assets especially crude oil facilities and pipelines and
thereafter attribute such action to Tompolo because of his position on the
recent election.