When a man who allegedly has the propensity for
violence suddenly becomes the best man for
government to give such sensitive security
contracts, then you can’t blame those who are
expressing fear.
The Warri Study Group (WSG) has called on
President Goodluck Jonathan to immediately
cancel a contract awarded to Global West Vessel
Service to secure Nigerian coastline, citing the
contracts content and the company’s link to an
ex-militant leader as a serious threat to
national security.
The group was reacting to media reports that
the Global West Vessel Service, a private
company believed to be controlled by one-time
militant leader, Chief Ekpemupolo, a.k.a
Tompolo, has added seven decommissioned
Norwegian battleships to its weaponry.
In a statement signed by Edward Ekpoko,
Chairman, and Tony Ede, Secretary, the WSG
noted that if the reports that the fast-speed
Hulk-class guided missile boats had been re-
armed with new weaponry is true, under the
pretense that it is meant to fight piracy in
Niger Delta, then Nigeria is sitting on a keg of
gun powder.
The group said: “President Jonathan, Tompolo
and the DG of NIMASA are all of Ijaw
extraction. We see a script being acted out.
Nigeria is the only country where an individual
is awarded contract to oversee the security
of the coastline of a nation with powers to
import warships and sophisticated arms.”
The report said, “Tompolo was a known militant
granted amnesty by the Yar’Adua
administration and controls the private company
engaged by NIMASA to oversee the security of
the Nigerian coastline during Jonathan’s
administration.
In a bid to indict President Goodluck Jonathan
on grounds of clanishness, the group charged:
“The question that begs for answer is this: What
is the role of the Nigerian Navy in the security
of the Nigerian coastline? Is the Ministry of
Defence aware of all these arms deals?”
It further recalled that, over one year since
the award of the said contract, not only has
illegal oil bunkering, pipeline vandalization and
sea-piracy been on the increase, perceived
threat by Tompolo and his kinsmen has equally
gone up.
“Are these warships and arm deals to fight
piracy and other criminal activities on our
coastline or to intimidate other ethnic
nationalities or cause destabilization as in the
North East?”, the WSG queried.
It called on Jonathan to withdraw the contract
awarded by NIMASA, warning that, “In the
unfortunate event of weapons being turned
against other ethnic nationalities in the Niger
Delta, those involved will be held responsible for
crime against humanity by the international
community even if Nigerian government fails to
act.”
According to a security expert based in the
Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja, “It is
very shameful that the Presidency would open
itself to clanish insinuations. Just last month,
this same former militant of Ijaw extraction
threatened everyone and President Jonathan, a
fellow Ijaw, endorsed the threat by canceling a
scheduled presidential engagement in Delta
State. Today, the story is about an individual
from Ijaw nation doing the work of the Nigeria
Navy. Such acts would only further serve to
demoralize the military”.
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