Embattled ex-militants’ leader, High Chief Government Ekpemupolo, (aka Tompolo) has thrown his weight behind the call by the Nigerian Ex-militants Forum, on the Niger-Delta Avengers to put a stop to their attacks on Nigeria’s oil and gas facilities and installations.
This is even as the group of former agitators, who spoke under aegis of Nigerian Ex-Militants Forum, has lamented that the attacks by the new militant group is hurting Nigeria’s already struggling economy.
Tompolo, who spoke yesterday through his spokesman, Mr. Paul Bebenimibo, said that he will continue to call on the new group to stop the attacks as the Nigerian economy is in a critical state, saying the economy can ill afford having its main source of revenue paralyzed.
“I have said it again and again that destruction of oil facilities as it being done now by the group cannot help the economy and I am reiterating my call on them to stop to save the Nigerian economy from collapse,” he said.
Tompolo, who was regarded as the main leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger- Delta (MEND), said that he has committed a lot of his energy to protecting those facilities in the interest of the nation’s economy and will not want them destroyed.
Meanwhile, the former militants have said that the resurgence of attacks on oil and gas facilities in Nigeria’s Niger Delta, is an unnecessary distraction for President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
According to Reuters, the group of ex-militants, who were former members of MEND, made the call in a statement late on Friday.
President Buhari said on Friday that he had heightened the military presence in the region where attacks in the last few weeks – mostly claimed by a group calling itself the Niger Delta Avengers – have driven the country’s oil output to a more than 20-year low.
“We should give President Buhari the opportunity to fulfill his promises to the Niger Delta people by maintaining peace in the region,” former MEND members said in the statement.
Nigeria, which relies on oil sales for 70 per cent of national income, is going through its worst economic crisis in decades caused by low crude prices.
Former members of MEND, many of whom secured lucrative contracts to protect pipelines under an amnesty agreement, are influential, although whether this extends to those responsible for the recent attacks is not clear.
