Revealed! Jonathan Paid Tompolo N1.5bn Monthly

This was revealed to Leadership newspaper by the former Chairman
of NIMASA, who strongly knows about it. He also accused the past president of
lavish spending, saying such an amount should have not been paid to an
ex-militant when the country has the Navy, the Army and the Air Force. Please read…

The pioneer chairman of the Nigerian Maritime Administration
and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr Ahmed Tijani Ramalan, has disclosed that the
agency pays the sum of N1.5bn monthly to the ex-militant leader of the Movement
for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), Mr. Government Ekpemupolo, alias
Tompolo, to protect the nation’s maritime areas.

Dr Ramalan, however, lamented that despite such gesture, the
country still loses over 400,000 barrels of crude oil daily from the nation’s
shores.

The former NIMASA chairman, who revealed this to Leadership in an interview in Kaduna, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to cancel the
contract given to the ex-militant by the administration of former President
Goodluck Jonathan.

He said, “Over 400, 000 barrels of crude oil are being
stolen daily from our shores under President Jonathan; yet we had a government
that has the Navy, the Army and the Air Force, and the government of Jonathan
decides to hand over the security of our maritime waters to Tompolo at a very
exorbitant amount of money.

“And these same people that are given the job of our
maritime security are the ones that are collaborating with the international
shipping companies to steal our oil.”

According to him, one of the ways to help the country’s
economy to bounce back is to revoke Tompolo’s contract.

“And if Buhari does not do so, we will be the first to start
attacking him. There is no basis to give that kind of billion naira job to
ex-militants,” he declared.

Making further clarification on how long the payment has
been going on, Ramalan said it started “sometime after 2011 when Jonathan won
his election and since then the payment has been on.

nimasa_logo2“I was the pioneer chairman of NIMASA, and
NIMASA is the one funding the contract given to Tompolo. This is a guy that is
collecting about N1.5bn every month and yet our Armed Forces are not well
funded. So, we call on the president to discard such contract.”

He further stated that Buhari’s strong character and honesty
would help him to lead country well.

“We supported President Buhari’s presidency because we
believe that the country needs a strong leadership. The insecurity and economic
problem that we are having in the country today is because of lack of a strong
and quality leadership,” he said.

“We believe the country needs a leader that is not corrupt,
because the issue of corruption in the country has led the country to its
knees.

“The country would have gone down if the administration of
Jonathan was allowed to continue. For us, we believe that having a new leader
is what the country needs because of the massive corruption. We believe in
President Buhari; we believe there is hope in having him as the president.”

He also expressed confidence in Buhari’s ability to solve
the problem of insecurity in the country.

Tompolo keeps mum

Attempt by Leadership to get clarification on the allegation
from Mr. Government Ekpemupolo wasn’t successful. Initial calls made to his
spokesperson, Comrade Paul Bebenimibo went unanswered, likewise SMS but he
later replied to an SMS sent to him saying “I will get across to my boss.” He
never got back again to Leadership up to the time of going to press when
several calls around 11:27pm where again made to him.