Edo: Oil Communities Want Share Of Tompolo’s N48 billion Pipeline Surveillance Contract, See It As National Cake

By Ayodele Oni

The dust raised by the N48b pipeline Surveillance Contract Award to ex militant in Niger/Delta is yet to settle as some stakeholders in Edo state are demanding for their own share of the booty.

The stakeholders from the oil producing communities of Edo State  asked the former militant leader and Commander of the defunct Movement for Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), Government Ekpemupolo, aka Tompolo to reach out to them.

According to them, it is very crucial that either Tompolo or the Federal government reaches out to them, to guarantee  smooth operations in the territories with the pipelines.

Chief  Patrick Osagie Eholor, spokesman for the stakeholders argued that violence, theft or pipeline destruction could happen in any part of Niger Delta, and disrupt the flow of crude and affect the economy.

Eholor, stated that stakeholders in Edo State in particular will work in harmony with the Federal government and Tompolo in order to secure the pipelines.

A statement in Benin, states “I am surprised that the whole security apparatus of this country has failed us. Be it army, navy, air force, police or civil defence, they have not been patriotic to this country, they have failed us woefully, abysmally.

“I am surprised that because the whole system has failed, they have to revert to a man they were fighting. He has to be the one providing the security to protect the pipelines, at N4billion per month and N48billion per year.

“Is it only in Delta State they have petroleum and other crude oil products? We have oil in Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Bayelsa, Rivers, Abia, Imo, even Anambra and our own Edo State.

“In Edo State here, we have in Orhionwhon, Ologbo, Gelegele just to mention a few. As a matter of fact, the one at Gelegele area was discovered the year I was born, 1964.

“Fortunately or unfortunately, that was the year the oil was discovered and we the people have been suffering since, despite the presence of oil on our land.

“They are flaring gas there, our children are suffering disabilities, older ones are suffering diseases like cataract and others caused by reactions from the crude.

“Bitter enough, those who don’t know where the oil is located, the Fulani cabals are the ones enjoying the wealth from it.

“While I commend the Federal Government for awarding the contract, to Tompolo, and while I congratulate Tompolo for getting the contract, he should know that Edo State also have pipelines. He needs to carry everybody along.

“Nobody has the monopoly of violence. We are not violent people, we are very educated people, we are very smart, we are very courageous people.

“We are ready to work with him, to also make sure that we protect the pipelines that run through Edo State and all through the Niger Delta region.

“But if Tompolo refuses to reach out to us, then the Federal Government have to reach out to us, because I see this thing as a welfare system where you know that some ethnic groups have suffered a lot, you know they are unemployed, you want to release money so that each and every one of them can enjoy the national cake, and stop destruction.

“So we are also appealing to the Federal Government to also reach out to us, to our people so that we can also protect the oil wells and the oil pipelines.

“It is going to create jobs for our teeming youths whom the government has neglected, unemployed, and who have been suffering to earn a living and care for their aged parents, and care for their families.

“But I do not support violence, I do not support destruction, but I won’t hesitate to tell the government that we cannot be discriminated against, one section will not be encouraged and the others neglected.

“You cannot sit there and believe that we cannot also be violent and bear weapons and get destructive too. Nobody has a monopoly of violence. We want to be patriotic, we want to respect the rule of law. That doesn’t mean we are collectively stupid in Edo State.

“We are part of the oil producing areas. We are confident that if we work together, the pipelines will be better protected, and oil theft will end.”