FG rewarding crimes by awarding Tompolo N48bn contract – CNG spokesman

The Director, Strategic Communications, Coalition of Northern Groups, Samaila Musa, tells GODFREY GEORGE why the group is opposed to the N48bn pipeline surveillance contract awarded by the Federal Government to ex-militant warlord, Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo

A coalition of northern groups is protesting against the decision of the Federal Government to award a N48bn pipeline surveillance contract to a former militant warlord, Mr Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo. Is it a problem of the person awarded the contract or the amount of money involved?

For us here, it is about the person actually. In Nigeria, we always hear humungous amounts of money being allocated for funny things in the name of contracts. We are used to that. It has become a norm. It is more about the person. Some people are already looking at Tompolo now, saying, “I think this guy is my role model”. It is now simple – create problems for the state until you get recognised as a warlord, claim that you have repented, apply for a contract and watch the reward start coming in.

We are talking of a contract where his take-home will be about N4bn monthly. It is a way of saying there is a reward for being a gangster! We are drifting as a nation, and that is an area that we really need to check. If people are being rewarded for this kind of act, then, someday, we should know that it will boomerang in our faces.

Tompolo is an ex-militant leader and the Federal Government has granted amnesty to the militants. Don’t you think it’s wrong to view Tompolo from the prism of what happened in the past?

What we are saying is that the government should be careful with how they reward people like this. He was sought after by this government, according to him, for this contract, and he took it. He claimed he didn’t ask for a renewal. So, the message is very audible to the deaf. This is someone whose activities are known all around the world. What does he mean by ‘repentant’? It is even funny that this is a renewal of the contract. That means he has been on the government’s payroll all these years. It is unacceptable! What the government has done is to revive our memories of the alleged crimes he committed. What point is the government trying to make? Is it that there is nobody that can guard these pipelines except Tompolo or what? What exactly are they trying to tell us? This is what we are asking.

It now seems like the (security) agents of the state are no longer effective. Whatever training that Tompolo and his guys have got from whatever country, the government troops should also go and get that training. The government personnel should do the same job. It is like saying bandits should be asked to protect Nigeria since they are always kidnapping and collecting ransoms from people. Now, these bandits are wanted. In 10 years, I will not be surprised if a government tells Nigerians that they are looking for a bandit leader to award him a contract. What point are they making? The youths are watching this drama playing out. What do you think they should do? Who should they now take as a role model? That is the problem. We have to be careful as a nation each time we want to do this.

While the northern coalition has opposed the contract to Tompolo, the Pan-Niger Delta Forum, on the other hand, has backed it. Do you think the positions of the two groups are influenced by ethnicity?

The fact that this has been turned into a tribal war is very unnecessary. What we keep doing in this country is attacking the messenger and throwing the message away. That will not help us. For every Nigerian who is qualified to get a contract from the government, nobody is saying he shouldn’t get it. But there are those who have some ‘baggage’ on them, who had been declared this or that in line with criminality. Those people should be exempted. It is already enough that all these cases with Tompolo just died off because of the way the country is structured. We are a very forgetful people. Otherwise, someone like that should not even go close to such a critical part of the nation’s economy. When we begin to remind people of who Tompolo is by awarding this kind of contract, then, there must be an uproar from the people. It is the reward system that is actually the problem.

I have not said anyone from the North should go there and get the contract from Tompolo. No. Are there not people from the Niger Delta region, who have lived according to the decorum of society and who have security outfits that can do this job? When we talk of safeguarding these pipelines, there are many issues. There are issues with security votes. The main reasons states get security votes are not actualised most of the time. The signal the Federal Government is sending by awarding such a contract to Tompolo, whose track record has been one of concern to every Nigerian, is that there is a problem.

Underground, they could have said, “We want to give you this contract. Give us a company that has nothing to do with you.” Nobody cares to know; what people want to know is nobody is bombing the pipelines and Nigeria is not losing money. But the Federal Government, without caution and with impunity, came out to make a categorical statement like this.

The Federal Government has maintained that the decision to hire Tompolo was well-thought-out. Aren’t you persuaded by that explanation?

We are not. The government awarding the contract to Tompolo is insensitive. The Northern Youth Council has decided to match against this move, and they have the right to do that. If anybody feels that is not the right way to do it, they should join these youths and register their discontent legally and in line with the law of the land. Petitions have been sent and more petitions will go out. We cannot just sit down and watch evil triumph over good. Instead of people taking laws into their own hands by vandalising public facilities, it is better we have a peaceful protest.

We live in a country where the government always feels like they own the people. People who are occupying political offices, especially those who were elected to be there, feel they owe their people nothing. If elected officials respect the people who sent them to govern, we won’t have these issues. When we speak, our voices should be registered and our decisions should be respected. In some cases, explanations should be given in a way that is clear and devoid of arrogance. In this country, anybody can just come on air and vomit all manner of nonsense, trying to defend the indefensible. That someone should be able to come out to justify that is beyond shocking. They are just saying, “We made the right decision!” How? In what way? During those days when there was a tough war between the military and Tompolo’s camp; what if he had died? Will the pipeline be left unmanned? So, nobody from that region can do the job except him? That is where the controversies lie.

The FG also stated that they didn’t go looking for Tompolo, because, according to them, there was a framework for contractors to come and bid and they were selected through a tender process. How do you react to that?

All those things are just balderdash! Do you think Tompolo will come out and say what did not happen? The Federal Government went looking for him. The government is just trying to come up with some defence. We all know how the Nigerian system works. If you go check, there may be some tender process, but we know it is only a decoy. If I have someone in the ministry who wants to give me a contract, I already know he is giving it to me. He will only just call for bidding, so, if any issues happen, he will say there was bidding. We know all these things. They’ll tell you how much to quote, and what they need from you even before they tell you what the contract is about or make any publication for a tender.

Tompolo came out and told us what transpired. He is the one they wanted to give the contract to and they have given it to him. For the FG to say the company was not his and that he only has interests are all balderdash! Tompolo would not have come out to boast if they didn’t look for him to give him the contract. All this they are saying now is mere defence. Whatever excuses they are coming up with is not really selling, as far as we are concerned.

What, in your opinion, should be done?

That decision must be absolutely revoked, otherwise, the Federal Government must come out in clear terms and explain to Nigerians why no other company who bided, but a company linked to Tompolo, a former warlord, won it. It should be convincing. If the FG cannot do that, they should revoke it right away. What gives Tompolo’s company an edge? What is the profile of the company? All these need to be in the open. This is how this would have gone unnoticed if Tompolo’s name was not mentioned at all. That name is the problem. We are in an era in Nigeria, where regardless of what wrong one has done in this life, one can just be rewarded anytime. We are losing it by the day and it is unfortunate.

I don’t know who awarded such a contract; whether it was the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), who doubles as the substantive Minister of Petroleum Resources, or Timipre Sylva, who is the Minister for State (Petroleum Resources). Whoever made that decision should be sacked.

Should the fact that the contract was awarded to Tompolo be a problem if it is guaranteed that the pipelines will truly be secured and bring an end to vandalism and theft of crude?

The problem is we’re mixing things up too much. If this N4bn is being channeled to the nation’s security agencies, they will achieve even more than a hundred Tompolos. A lot of times we hear humungous amounts being budgeted for security, but I can tell you that 80 per cent of that amount does not get to the right places. There are reports to back up this claim. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has been nabbing them all around the country. To say this contract will rather promote militancy in the Niger Delta is an understatement. It is an encouragement for the youths to take to crime and become a warlord. What the FG seems to be saying is: “Make sure you are a well-known criminal. Do crime well till you are recognised. After that, you are now untouchable and what you will be getting are different kinds of rewards.”