Traditional rulers under the aegis of the E/A Oil Field Traditional Rulers in Iduwini, Kou, Main and Basan clans in Ekeremor and Southern Ijaw Local Government Areas of Bayelsa State have warned the federal government against planned arrest of former militant leaders of the Niger Delta, even as they lauded Governor Seriake Dickson on his victory at the recently-concluded governorship election in the state.
Spokesman of the group and Paramount ruler of Amatu1 community, His Royal Highness, Decca Keredei, said Governor Dickson’s victory at the poll is ‘an indication that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government and the All Progressives Congress (APC) was willing to give the electoral umpire the needed support to conduct free, fair and credible elections in the country.’
According to him, the Kogi and Bayelsa elections were the ‘litmus test for the current INEC leadership barely seven months after the country went through the 2015 general elections that ushered in President Muhammadu Buhari as Nigeria’s 4th democratically elected president of the country since 1999.’
On the alleged plot by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to arrest and prosecute High Chief Government Ekpemupolo (aka Tompolo) over corruption charges, Keredei said, though the Traditional Rulers are not in support of corrupt officials, the agency’s selectiveness in its quest to punish offenders will spell doom for the country.
The monarch, therefore, advised President Buhari not to allow self seeking politicians to mislead him just as they warned the APC led federal government to be mindful of the consequences of arresting the ex-militant leader who ‘at the moment is the voice of the youths in the already fragile amnesty programme.’
“Any attempt to arrest Tompolo, Asari Dokubo, Ateke Tom and other ex-militant leaders will spell doom for this country and for the government at the centre because the current existing peace in the Niger Delta region cannot be sustained.
“They should leave them alone if government would want to move forward or this will be another Tompologate.
“I want the federal government of President Buhari and EFCC to leave Tompolo and other warlords in the Niger Delta region alone because there is an alleged plot to frame him and others up under the pretence of fighting corruption.”
The monarch, also called on Governor Dickson to use his renewed mandate to issue First, Second and Third Class Traditional Rulers in the state with their Staff of Office as required by law to enable them function effectively, adding that ‘his victory at the polls was to correct the mistakes in the past.’
