In his new letter, the ex-militant
Niger Delta leader aka Tompolo asked the president to learn from former
President Musa Yar’Adua who in 2009, introduced the Amnesty programme for Niger
Delta militants after discovering that attacking the militants was not a good
idea. The letter in part reads;
“Today
is exactly 31 days after the invasion of the traditional headquarters of
Gbaramatu Kingdom, Oporoza town, by your military led by Brig. General Faruk
Yahaya of the 4thBrigade, Benin City, in search of me, with the allegation that
I am the one behind the bombing and destruction of crude oil facilities in the
Niger Delta region, and the incident happened in my absence, but I was informed
that the army was on the loose, and committed so much abomination in the
community.
As I said in my previous publications, the military made away with
the symbol of Authority of the Gbaramatu people from the Egbesu Shrine, [of]
which I am the chief priest. They also made away with other valuables, worth
several millions of naira, from the community. We are presently being treated
like conquered people because of crude oil.
Mr
President sir, please permit me to quickly recall a similar incident that
occurred in May, 2009, when this same military invaded several communities in
Gbaramatu kingdom, under the command of late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.
Traditional worship centres were desecrated, property were looted and above
all, the multi-billion naira ultra-modern magnificent palace of the pere of
Gbaramatu kingdom was burned down, and his golden crown was stolen by the
military.
As
peace-loving people, the kingdom approached the courts and demanded
compensation for the unlawful invasion and destruction of property, in which
the court awarded 99 billion naira in favour of Gbaramatu kingdom. After seven
years of that sad incident, the Federal Government is yet to pay the
compensation.
This
incident also led to the declaration of the Presidential amnesty programme for
peace to reign, as the government find out that military action is not the best
way to address the Niger Delta question, and the rest become a history in the
life of those who led that invasion. I believe Mr President should learn a
lesson from the 2009 military invasion and do the needful.”
Tell your co groups to stop vandalising the oil pipes then you can write letter, nonsense
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