Inside Tompolo’s empire, survival plots

In from Olumide Oluoluwa . . . .

He will be very lucky to escape. Government Ekpemupolo popularly known as Tompolo is probably the most wanted man in Nigeria right now. Twice, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) invited him to appear for corruption and money laundering charges, and twice the man, who held the creeks captive for years, turned down the almighty EFCC. In Tompolo’s world, he does not answer to authority.

Despite threats by the anti -graft agency that he will be declared wanted, Tompolo has stuck to his guns. Clearly, the ex-militant is still used to being above the law. He has mastered the art of operating without questioning. Since he accepted the amnesty offered by former President Musa Yar’Adua in 2009, the man called Government has run his empire unchecked. He has become a government unto himself and those under his control.

Under former President Goodluck Jonathan, Tompolo became a law. He operated with full reins. He planted his stooges in strategic government circles. They furnished him with details of contracts and projects he could benefit from. A source privy to some of the deals said: “Tompolo was a businessman par excellence. He knew what was happening in major government agencies and ministries. He had people everywhere watching out for his interests.”

This system he instituted, it was learnt, was how he secured the pipeline surveillance projects, across the Niger Delta and the rumoured procurement of weapons for the Navy that fetched him billions. Even when some naval authorities balked over the idea, it was gathered Tompolo reined them in by sheer force. Those who chose to play game were accommodated in the deal.  That way, those who remained recalcitrant were either dismissed or silenced in naval offices.

At a point, Tompolo’s influence was so much that he was more or less the Chief of Naval Staff. He could order just about any naval officer to get anything done for him. The ex-militant, it was gathered, even travelled to the creeks in naval ships under full official protection. Many of his bunkering goons were left to operate unchecked on the seas without any fuss.

This, it was gathered, was why many oil vessels disappeared onshore and bunkering escalated under former President Jonathan. So popular was bunkering that Tompolo even suggested to the Presidency that it should be legalised. This was the genesis of the bunkering legalisation attempt at the National Assembly towards the tail end of the Jonathan’s administration. Had Jonathan been reelected, the bill, it was learnt, would have scaled through almost effortlessly.

The successful execution of this major project buoyed his confidence. Tompolo activated his agents in the Presidency that suggested he should work towards getting the Nigerian Maritime and Safety Agency (NIMASA) on board. This suggestion allegedly led to over N24 billion siphoned from the agency between December 2014 and April 2015. The EFCC accused Tompolo of converting the various sums within tthe period to personal use with his cronies.

Read also: Tompolo shuns order, fails to appear in court

It was gathered that Tompolo literally had the former NIMASA Director General, Patrick Akpobolokemi, in his palms, spinning the DG to award contracts after contracts through his agents in the Presidency.  Akpobolokemi, who was initially scandalised, reportedly gave in when he found out the Presidency was fully behind the ex-militant.

Tompolo, it was gathered, tactically spread the loot to key presidential figures, who then looked away and encouraged him to go on with the looting spree. From the loots, he was said to have acquired many mansions in nearly all the major cities in the nation and across the world. In Lagos, for example, where he lived from 2014, Tompolo had a luxurious home in Ikoyi with many ladies around. He went around Lagos with escorts and police orderlies aside from his ex-militants.

To widen his influence, Tompolo started sponsoring candidates in the last elections. His plot was to really run many governments through proxies. In one of the oil rich state, for instance, Tompolo funded the election of the governor almost singlehandedly. For this, he was allowed to nominate the deputy governor. Most members of the Assembly, according to investigations, also emerged though his strategic political funding scheme.

He was banking on replicating the same in many other South South states before Jonathan was defeated. It was a meticulous strategy that would have seen him translate from a pardoned militant to a political kingmaker. With the Presidency tactically supporting him, it was only a matter of time before the scheme matures fully.

Tompolo, sources say, is a generous, likeable personality with a disarming disposition. Those who loved him were always willing to do anything for him. This is because he had invested so much in them that a life without him was very inconceivable. This accounts for his cult like followership first in the creeks and then in some political settings.

For his detractors, he relied on his charming personality, cash and sheer force. Unconfirmed reports said he always ordered the execution of those who would not give way to his desires after exhausting other options. For those who chose to play along, he most willingly doled out money for their supportive pleasure.

Though a court has declared his arrest, Tompolo, according to indications, is not in the mood to give up yet. A source said: “He is considering a full scale war because he has stockpiled so much cash to prosecute a long drawn war. But he knows it won’t come to that because the government is not willing to throw the Niger Delta into a war zone again.  He knows the government is battling with terrorism in the north east and will be wary to drag the Niger Delta into a similar experience.

“Also, he knows since oil is our mainstay, the government will most likely negotiate instead of fighting in the light of dwindling oil revenues. He is also safe among his people. Nobody will betray him. He has sowed fear into the communities. Those who are not afraid have been bought over. Those are his hopes really. He won’t come out and government will have to do much to smoke him out.”

Indeed, he will be lucky to escape or overcome these. But with Tompolo, anything is possible. You can never say never with him. After all, he calls himself the Government.
RipplesNigeria …without borders, without fears

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now