"I Have No Reason to Kill Tompolo, I Once Saved His Life" Ajube
*By Ogele News Correspondent*
Senior High Chief Bibopere Ajube says he has no reason to seek harm against Government Ekpemupolo ,and that if anything, history runs in the opposite direction. "I once saved his life," he told Ogele News.
Ajube was responding to circulating allegations suggesting hostility between himself and Ekpemupolo, widely known as Tompolo, which he described as false and a deliberate distraction from the real issues facing the Niger Delta.
He spoke amid growing debate over pipeline surveillance contracts, insisting that both history and those who lived through the crisis years know the truth of what passed between them.
The statement comes at a time when tensions have risen in parts of the region following renewed calls for the decentralisation of pipeline surveillance operations ,a position Ajube supports alongside other stakeholders who believe the current arrangement should be reviewed in the wider interest of the Niger Delta.
In recent days, online commentary has attempted to frame that position as a break in long-standing relationships among key actors in the struggle. Ajube rejected that interpretation, saying the narrative now being pushed does not reflect the reality of what happened during the darkest days of the agitation.
He said the relationship between himself and Tompolo was forged during the 2009 military operation in Gbaramatu Kingdom, when camps were attacked and fighters were forced to disperse into the creeks.
"That period was not about politics. It was about survival," he said.
When the structure of the struggle broke down under military pressure, Ajube said, those who understood the terrain and still had operational capacity became critical to the survival of others. He said beyond Tompolo, several persons were moved and protected in the aftermath of the assault , among them the Gbaramatu King and wounded or displaced foot soldiers.
"Those were not days of public speeches or media appearances. They were days when men depended on trusted hands, safe routes and hidden locations to stay alive," he said.
Tompolo, he recalled, was among those he helped move out of danger at a time when military operations had intensified and key figures were being tracked across the creeks.
Ajube maintained that any attempt to present him as an enemy today ignores the realities of that period.
"You cannot take what is happening today and use it to rewrite what happened then," he said.
Observers say the resurfacing of old alliances and disagreements is closely tied to the ongoing debate over the structure of pipeline surveillance contracts and who should benefit from them.
Ajube backed decentralisation strongly, arguing it would deliver both security and economic value to the region.
"Decentralisation has the capacity to engage about 5,000 youths per state. Instead of concentrating resources in a few hands, you bring people into the system and give them responsibility," he said.
He said the current conversation should be about impact, not personalities, and questioned what the existing arrangement had actually produced.
"If the system is working as claimed, why is Nigeria's daily crude oil output not improving significantly? These are the real questions we should be asking," he said.
Ajube also raised concerns about oversight, saying attempts to scrutinise the present surveillance framework had not been allowed to run their course.
"Many people know the truth. That is why the National Assembly initiated an investigation into the cost and impact of the current arrangement. But that process was not allowed to run its full course," he said.
He said funds tied to the current system were not translating into broad-based value.
"The money shared to politicians in Abuja and around will not give the President any political value. That is the truth. The President should know this. He is someone I supported with everything I have in the last election and I still support him," he said.
Others have defended the existing arrangement, pointing to gains in oil production and reductions in illegal refining in some areas.
Ajube declined to engage opposing voices directly, saying the discussion must stay focused on structure, inclusion and measurable results.
"This discussion should be about how to secure our resources properly and how to carry people along. It should not be reduced to personal attacks or false narratives," he said.
For now, he insists that whatever position he holds today should not be twisted into hostility toward those he once stood with in the creeks.
"This is not about enemies," he said. "It is about getting things right."
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