By Roland Ekama
There are palpable tension and anxiety over the multi billion naira contract awarded to Mr. Government Ekpemopolo aka Tompolo by the federal government of Nigeria, as youths of the Ogoniland have expressed dissatisfaction over the modus operandi of the soutsourcing process to indigenes from other neighbouring communities within the Niger Delta region.
Recall that Tompolo had reiterated commitment to outsource the contract to other Indigenes of the Niger Delta shortly after the completion of the deal.
President General, Ogoni Youths Comrade Legborisis Yamabaana in an exclusive chat over the weekend, kicked against the contract awarded solely to the defunct leader of the Movement of the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), saying that stakeholders in the region were not carried along.
Despite the alleged marginalisation, Yamabaana decried that stakeholders in the region were not consulted on the project noting that all may not be well in the south south if people from the Ogoniland are not duly consulted on the billion Naira contract award.
The President General reiterated that Ogoniland is the flagship of environmental consciousness of the Niger Delta region adding that Ogoni clan cut across four Local Government Area of Rivers State that must not be sidelined for any reason.
This he said include: Eleme, Gokana, Khana, and Tai.
Expressing disappointment over the contract award to the ex MEND leader, Yamabaana affirmed that King Saro Wiwa fought and died for the people of the region over issues of environmental degradation which is similar to the recent surveillance contract on protection of government assets.
He lamented that the surviellance contract since inception of Goodluck Jonathan and President Muhammadu Buhari was beneficiary to the Ijaw nations noting that the Ogoni people has not in anyway gained from the project.
According to him, Ogoni nation has numerously pipeline assets criss crossing the four Local Government Area adding that the project would be died on arrival if due consultation is not put in place by the contractor to ensure that the Ken Saro Wiwa people are carried along.
He further took a swipe at the federal government over failure to show genuine commitment to resolve oil theft, oil pipeline vandalisation in the region stressing that the contract should have been awarded to various communities in the region and not an individual.
The President General added that “Am yet to see any community in this Niger Delta region that has the number of pipelines like we have in Ogoniland; How can you give a contract to a man from Delta state and expect him to superintendent over every other communities in this region?
He also disclosed that consultation are ongoing with other critical stakeholders in the Niger Delta region to resist the contract conceded to an individual in the region.
The President General affirmed that:”This project should not be awarded to those who only carried arms , Tompolo only knows his militant friends that will benefit from this project, and why is it that the more arms you carry the more government patronise you. We have continued to be law abiding citizens of this region despite the insurgency in the country and as such we have what it takes to control the boys on ground for the protection of government assets in our own communities than Tompolo”, he added .
Speaking further ,he maintained that “The Tompolo project will not succeed if government fails to consult all stakeholders in the region because the government cannot shave our hairs in our absence.
“In fact , we are planning to carry out a protest against the NNPC and Nigeria state simply because some people are militant while others are not so therefore we don’t have a say or voice for us to speak up on negative development,Yamabaana pointed out.
He called on the government to be more sincere with the protection of oil facilities in the region saying the billion Naira contract awarded to Tompolo is dead on arrival.
“We are going to resist it and we are not going to accept that. You cannot enrich one man and say you have enriched a community. A person’s success is not a community success. We need communal success”, he added.
“The issue we are aggrieved about is germane and we are consulting with stakeholders in the Niger Delta region who are also aggrieved and are not militant. Government should do what is right because we have oil in these four Local Government Area and we cannot guarantee the safety of this assets if government failed to correct this development.”
