The Mayor of Urhoboland and former militant in the Niger Delta struggle, Eshanekpe Israel, a.k.a Akpodoro has called on stakeholders and ex-militants alike to stop attacks on the Government Ekpemupolo, a.k.a Tompolo over the oil pipelines surveillance contract awarded him by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government, noting that equitable distribution of the surveillance contracts should be demanded instead.
He stated this after a well attended nocturnal meeting with critical stakeholders at his country home in Ughelli, Delta State over the weekend as he argued that every ethnic nationality must be represented in the award of the contracts and that Tompolo was awarded the contract on behalf of the Delta Ijaws and that other nations with oil and gas bearing facilities in the region are entitled to demand same from the FG.
The Mayor however expressed gratitude to the President for considering ex-militant leaders in the region for such contracts as he noted that the former warlords were those who made the contracts possible in the first place and to that extent they alone can secure such national patrimony within their domain according to ethnic spread.
He further stated that although the Urhobos have not been considered in the award of the surveillance contract but was quick to call the FG to immediately award the security of pipelines in Urhoboland to the nation’s stakeholders.
According to the Mayor of Urhoboland, he led his followers to support in the security of the pipelines when it was awarded to some contractors some years and they initially achieve enormous results until the contractors relapsed into gross inefficiency and poor management which culminated into the ongoing review of the contracts.
Pointedly, Akpodoro said its most logically wrong for one to assume that an Ijaw man can be awarded contract to secure Urhoboland or pipelines in Ndokwa nation leaving the indigenous people out of the schemes saying, every tribe must be represented in the contract awards.
“The contract must be community based, it must be awarded to the representatives of the nationalities bearing oil and gas pipelines and not to somebody from another ethnic group.
For instance, it is expected that an Urhobo stakeholder ditto other nationalities be awarded surveillance contracts in their domain and surely not to politicians but to those who were involved in the arm struggle who are deeply involved in the Amnesty Programme. Awarding such contracts to politicians will boomerang and counter productive and this is why it critical stakeholders must be carried along.
“We are the ex-militants, we created the need for the surveillance contract and we deserve government’s patronage according to our nationalities. The ex-militants are the pride of the Niger Delta region and the government owe us patronage.
Therefore, calling Tompolo out over the contract awarded him is uncharitable and it must stop because he is eminently qualified like every other ex-militant leaders to be patronized. But I stand on my call for the contract to go round all ethnic nations,” the National Coordinator of the National Coalition of Niger Delta Ex-Agitators, NCNDE-A and Mayor of Urhoboland maintained.