Former Niger Delta militant, Government Ekpemepulo aka Tompolo who is
currently in hiding, has written another open letter to President
Buhari. In his new letter, the ex militant leader asked the president to
learn from former President Musa Yar’Adua who in 2009, introduced the
Amnesty programme for Niger Delta militants after discovering that
attacking the militants was not a good idea. The letter in part reads;
“Today is exactly 31 days after the invasion of the traditional
headquarters of Gbaramatu Kingdom, Oporoza town, by your military led by
Brig. General Faruk Yahaya of the 4thBrigade, Benin City, in search of
me, with the allegation that I am the one behind the bombing and
destruction of crude oil facilities in the Niger Delta region, and the
incident happened in my absence, but I was informed that the army was on
the loose, and committed so much abomination in the community. As I
said in my previous publications, the military made away with the symbol
of Authority of the Gbaramatu people from the Egbesu Shrine, [of] which
I am the chief priest. They also made away with other valuables, worth
several millions of naira, from the community. We are presently being
treated like conquered people because of crude oil.
Mr President sir, please permit me to quickly recall a similar incident
that occurred in May, 2009, when this same military invaded several
communities in Gbaramatu kingdom, under the command of late President
Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. Traditional worship centres were desecrated,
property were looted and above all, the multi-billion naira ultra-modern
magnificent palace of the pere of Gbaramatu kingdom was burned down,
and his golden crown was stolen by the military. As peace-loving people,
the kingdom approached the courts and demanded compensation for the
unlawful invasion and destruction of property, in which the court
awarded 99 billion naira in favour of Gbaramatu kingdom. After seven
years of that sad incident, the Federal Government is yet to pay the
compensation.
This incident also led to the declaration of the Presidential amnesty
programme for peace to reign, as the government find out that military
action is not the best way to address the Niger Delta question, and the
rest become a history in the life of those who led that invasion. I
believe Mr President should learn a lesson from the 2009 military
invasion and do the needful.”