Surrender to EFCC, Bayelsa APC tells Tompolo -- Punch

Elders in Bayelsa State chapter of the All Progressives Congress have advised Niger-Delta ex-militant, Mr. Government Ekpemupolo (aka Tompolo), to surrender himself to questioning by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over a N13bn fraud allegation.

The elders also demanded an apology from the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of APC, Mr. Timi Frank, over his comments against the party leadership in the state.

A member of the Bayelsa APC Elders, Mr. Arerebo Bodi, at a reception organised in his honour on Saturday in Abuja, said it was important for Tompolo to honour the request of EFCC, rather than blame Sylva and other APC leaders in the state.

While speaking on behalf of the Bayelsa APC Elders, he asked why Sylva who he said was instrumental to the appointment of the Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Heneiken Lokpobiri and Special Assistant to the President, Presidential Amnesty Programme, Gen. Paul Boro (retd), would be mentioned by Tompolo in his allegations.

According to him, the APC was aware of the antics of the ex-militant, especially in terms of vandalism with his followers.

Bodi stated, ‘‘He should make himself available to the EFCC because when Sylva was arrested, he made himself available to the EFCC. If he refuses to submit himself to the EFCC, he should be declared wanted to face the law.”

Justice Ibrahim Buba of a Federal High Court in Abuja had granted an order compelling Tompolo to answer an amended 40 counts of conspiracy, fraud and money laundering levelled against him and a former Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Patrick Akpobolokemi.

But shortly after the court order, Niger-Delta militants attacked oil installations, fuelling speculations that Tompolo’s ‘boys’ were responsible.

However, Tompolo in a letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, accused the candidate of the APC in the last Bayelsa State governorship election, Timipre Sylva “and a few young men from Warri South-West LGA of Delta State, who joined the party from the Peoples Democratic Party after the 2015 presidential election of trying to link him to the renewed vandalism of oil facilities in the Niger-Delta region. “Whereas they are the ones carrying out the act to smear my name,” he said.

Also in his reaction, Timi Frank, said rather than apologising, the elders should do so to him for allowing APC lose Bayelsa State.

He said, ‘‘They owe me an apology for making us lose Bayelsa State. I spoke the truth as at that time and made my position known to them right from day one that Timipre Sylva cound not win the election. I still stand by it that if you conduct the election one million times in Bayelsa State, he will be defeated by PDP.’’

PUNCH NIGERIA