Why we can’t hand over Tompolo to JTF, EFCC —Ijaw elders, youths:
IJAW elders in Delta State, yesterday, said it was impracticable for them to hand over the former General Officer Commanding, GOC, of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, to security agencies because they neither have the power to do so nor know his (Tompolo) whereabouts currently.
They also said that they do not have any information that Tompolo was involved in the three-day bombing of crude oil and gas pipelines in the state, while many see the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC’s case against him as a form of persecution.
The Federal Government, last weekend, asked Ijaw communities to hand over suspects involved in the bombing, alleged to be hiding in their areas, to security agencies, while the Joint Task Force, JTF, had earlier threatened to hold community leaders responsible for further acts of pipeline vandalism in their communities.
Chairman, Ijaw (Izon) Okosu –Otu (Ijaw Council of Elders), Delta State, Chief Bare Etolor, said, “It is unfair for the Federal Government to ask Ijaw communities to handover suspects that carried out the bombing because we do not know them. In addition, I do not see how anybody expects us to handover Tompolo to security agencies because we do not have the power to do that, except they want to humiliate us.”
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