Tompolo asks Buhari: What’s the yardstick for Daura railway lines, helipad?

Embattled former militant leader, Chief Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, yesterday, asked President Muhammadu Buhari to tell Nigerians the economic importance of his hometown, Daura, to warrant his approval of construction of railway lines from Kano and Helipad with the revenue derived from oil and gas in the Niger Delta region.

Tompolo also alleged that security agents looted building materials worth over N10 billion at his Jetty and Waterfront, in Edjeba, near Warri, Delta State, seized by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

He said, “In this context, it will not be out of place to juxtaposing question of what economic significance is your hometown, Daura, which you approved construction of a railway line to and the construction of a helipad with revenue derived from oil and gas in the Niger Delta region?”

He spoke in commemoration of the first anniversary of his father, the late Chief Thomas Ekpumupolo, who died after he was shot by soldiers, who invaded Gbaramatu Kingdom, September, last year, allegedly in search of him and militants bombing oil facilities in the region.

He said: “Let me use this medium to also inform the world that the Nigerian Navy under the behest of President Buhari administration had looted my Waterfront and Jetty facilities maliciously and unlawfully seized by the EFCC.

“In the last inventory of my facility, there was over N10 billion worth of building and other materials at the jetty, but information reaching me now has it that the jetty had been stripped bare by service personnel of the Joint Task Force, JTF.

“Some of the materials presumably have been taken to northern Nigeria. How could this happen under your watch? As rightly observed by other well-meaning Nigerians, let me echo their thoughts by asking, where is the much-touted anti-corruption crusade?”

Contacted on the alleged looting of N10 billion building materials, Commander, Nigerian Navy Service, NNS Delta, Commodore Ibrahim Dewu said: “I am not aware of this allegation. It’s strange to me.”

Tompolo, who fingered President Buhari for his predicament, said: “I will like to remind Mr. President that my bank accounts remain frozen on his orders, thereby financially incapacitating me from performing my natural obligations as a father in paying my daughter and other dependents’ tuition fees and sundry expenses in Nigeria, while it is known that your children have schooled or may still be in the process of schooling in highly rated universities in the United Kingdom, surely with funds derived from proceeds of the oil and gas resources in the Niger Delta.

“Your public asset declaration puts you way beyond the near capacity to have funded the education of your children in world- class universities in the UK and also provide the affluence and luxury that they enjoy in the UK. I make this observation because it demonstrates your personal insincerity and the injustices meted out to Nigerians by your policies,” he said.

Also recalling that President Buhari’s health bills while in the United Kingdom were paid with proceeds ultimately derived from crude oil and gas revenue from his backyard, while the people of Niger Delta and Nigerians continue to be denied access to basic health facilities, Tompolo urged the President “to turn a new leaf and seek the true face of God, who has given him a new lease of life.”