N’Delta groups kick over pipeline surveillance awarded to Tompolo

There may be bloody fight ahead in the creeks of the Niger Delta as more groups from the oil-rich region on Sunday called on President Bola Tinubu to look into the awarding of the oil pipeline surveillance contract to a company allegedly owned by Chief Government Ekpemupolo (a.k.a Tompolo), a former militancy.

The demand came less than two weeks after Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State criticized the Federal Government for awarding the oil pipeline surveillance contract in the Niger Delta to a single company and individual.

Already, the favouring of Tompolo is said to be generating tension in the Niger Delta.

The Niger Delta organisations under the aegis of Frontiers of Isoko Nation Advancement (FINA) and Defenders of Urhobo Nation (DUN) in separate statements issued in Warri, Delta State, said that extension of the pipeline surveillance contract awarded to Tompolo would be massively resisted.

FINA in a statement by its Coordinator, Raphael Sunny Egbuwoku, called on President Tinubu, to look into the agitation.

He said, “It is crucial for President Tinubu, as the leader of our great nation, to address this issue and ensure the proper apportioning of pipeline surveillance contracts among leaders and stakeholders in the Niger Delta.”

Also, the DUN in a statement by its Spokesperson, Comrade Anthony Etineruba, said resistance to the pro-Tompolo contract is a battle of no retreat, no surrender.

He said, “We call on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to decentralize the pipeline surveillance contract, and have it shared across the Niger Delta states.

“The extension of the pipeline surveillance contract awarded to Chief Government Ekpemupolo will be massively resisted as the monopoly by Tompolo can no longer be tolerated.

“It is an affront to other leaders in the Niger Delta who have equal competence and stakes for Tompolo to continually be given the pipeline surveillance contract to the detriment of all. We call for the cancellation of the contract extension to Tompolo for another three months.”