Tompolo, Otuaro, Proven Promoters of Inter-Ethnic Harmony–Activist Mala

By Bulou Kosin

Niger Delta Activist, Moses Mala says “High Chief Government Ekpemupolo aka Tompolo and Dr Dennis Otuaro, Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme are proven forces of inter-ethnic harmony in the Niger Delta using their access to government”.

Mala spoke to newsmen yesterday in Bomadi in reaction to Itsekiri-born Chief Robinson Ariyo’s recent comments which he (Mala) said were “a veiled reference to Tompolo, Otuaro and other Ijaw leaders’.

Advising the Federal Government against “giving security and surveillance contracts to unrepentant ex-militants”, Ariyo said, rather than using same for peace-keeping, “some have institutionalised influence using government contracts or access to state resources to consolidate power, intimidate other ethnic nationalities and pursue territorial and political dominance”.

Responding, Mala said “Ariyo’s description rather best describes the actions of Dore Numa whose land grabbing for expansionist purposes in Warri were inherited by the Itsekiri Communal Land Trustees and promoted today by the Itsekiri Establishment. The Itsekiri leveraged on government contracts and resources to politically maltreat other ethnic groups, thereby occasioning crises that stretched over a century in the Warri territory”.

He added: “In contrast, Tompolo and Otuaro have proven to be forces forging Niger Delta unity. It is incontestable that Tompolo’s Tantita, for instance, benefits all oil bearing ethnic groups including Ariyo’s Itsekiri ethnic nationality. Tantita’s escapades in Isoko nation elicited appreciative investiture of High Chief Kestin Pondi, Tantita’s MD, as the Owena of Ozoro Kingdom! Tompolo’s donation of N10billion naira to the Delta State Security Trust Fund continues his long collaboration with security agencies in curbing crime. Equally, the PAP under Dr Dennis Otuaro recently engaged more people of Isoko and Itsekiri extraction towards forging harmony for peace in the oil region. The actions of Tompolo and Otuaro cannot therefore be said to “deepen ethnic suspicion” as erroneously held out by Ariyo”.

“It is unfortunate that while the revered Itsekiri monarch, Atuwatse III, is apparently charting a new order of togetherness with his company, Pipeline Infrastructure Nigeria Ltd, engaging Ijaw, Itsekiri and other ethnic groups, like Tompolo’s Tantita, for Nigeria’s economic prosperity, the likes of Chief Ariyo are still locked in their historical, unprofitable, uncivilised and unsustainable hate”, Mala lamented.