Tension As Militants Threaten To Bomb Delta’s Community Oil Pipeline

There is palpable tension and anxiety in some Niger Delta host communities after a group of former militants in Delta State, threatened to bomb oil installations in their territory if they are not included in the pipeline surveillance contract awarded to former militant leader Government Ekpemupolo, also known as Tompolo.

www.bigpenngr.com reports that the contract for the protection of the pipeline, which was given to a company connected to Tompolo and a few other Niger Delta stakeholders, has recently been a subject of controversy.

Community-based youth organisations, among other groups, have pushed for inclusion in the multibillion-naira deal that will give Tompolo N4 billion in monthly revenue.

The most recent threat comes just a few weeks after Asari Dokubo, another former military commander, threatened to deny Tompolo access to his Kalabari kingdom in Rivers State.

The disgruntled ex-agitators identified themselves as ex-agitators from the oil mining lease OML 28 and 30 cluster 5 and 6 from various Delta communities of Isoko when they spoke to a few selected newsmen in a remote Delta rural area in Isoko land.

The group’s leader, who only identified himself as “General” Do-Good, issued a twenty-four-hour deadline to the relevant government agency in charge of the contract award to address their concerns. If they did not, they threatened to blow up pipelines in their communities starting on Monday, October 10, 2022.

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“We are being marginalised in oil mining leases (OML 28 and 30) clusters 5 and 6 from various Isoko communities. Nearly every community in our region has a pipeline running through it, but Tompolo has taken over our surveillance work, so we’re doing this to warn him that we need our fair share of the pipeline job. If we don’t get our share soon, we’ll blow our lines. We have been excluded for far too long. 

If these problems are not resolved within the next 24 hours, “We will blow everything related to oil in Isoko Land.” They warned Tompolo not to visit Isoko to manage their oil pipeline.

“We have been marginalized for too long,” General” Do-Good continued. The Niger Delta region is home to more people than just Ijaws who have oil. We, the Isoko, have some of the largest oil and gas facilities in the Niger Delta region, but we are usually marginalized and treated with disdain.

“Even in the Presidential Amnesty Programme, we were treated shabbily, and in every other thing coming to the Niger Delta region, we were not treated well.”

“Even in this pipeline surveillance contract, we have been schemed out, so we are giving them 24 hours to call us and address our needs; otherwise, every pipeline and oil facility in Isoko will be blown up.” 

“We are waiting for Tompolo to enter our territory to guard any pipeline here, We are not afraid of him.” 

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“We are not against him getting his share of the pipeline surveillance contract but he should not come here to lord over us, we want our own pipeline surveillance job to be given to us otherwise we will seize all the oil facilities and shoot all of them down”.