Tompolo, MEND leaders to meet over Buhari

Government Ekpemupolo, the former commander of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) better known as Tompolo, has summoned ex-militant leaders to an emergency meeting.

The meeting is scheduled to hold in Yenagoa, capital of Bayelsa state, on Saturday.

Paul Bebenimibo, spokesman of the ex-militant leader, told TheCable that issues relating to the government of President Muhammadu Buhari will be addressed at the meeting.

“My dearly beloved commanders and leaders of various wings of the Movement of the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), I greet you all,” read the letter of invitation.

“It is my pleasure to humbly invite you to a very crucial and urgent meeting as follows:

“Venue: Izon House, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.

“Date (of the meeting is) Saturday, July 25th, 2015. Time (is) 2pm Prompt.”

Bebnimibo, who said the current administration has not lived up to expectation, refused to disclose other issues listed for discussion on Saturday.

“We are still appraising the outcome of the election and how things are going; and definitely, these issues would be addressed at the meeting,” he said.

“At the end of the meeting, we would let the public know about issues addressed and the decisions we arrive at.”

Bebenimbo said he would not make further comments regarding the matter until Saturday.

But in response to the question on the assessment of the current government, he said: “As far as we are concerned, nothing is happening.”

In 2009, the administration of late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua declared Tompolo as the most wanted man in the country but he was a staunch ally of former president, Goodluck Jonathan, throughout his tenure.

He and other ex-militants threatened to make the country ungovernable if Jonathan lost the election, but he surprisingly appealed for calm after the declaration of Muhammadu Buhari as winner.

Describing Buhari’s emergence as “the will of God“, Tompolo asked his people not to foment trouble.