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Tompolo, Boyloaf, Dokubo, other militants at war over pipelines contract
Militant leaders of the Niger-Delta region are currently at war over the N4.5 billion monthly pipeline surveillance contract awarded to former leader of Movement for the Emancipation of Niger-Delta, MEND, Government Ekpemupolo, popularly known as Tompolo, by the Federal Government, with Alhaji Asari Dokubo, yesterday, alleging that he (Tompolo) bluntly refused to involve him and other ex-militant leaders in a $144 million coastal protection contract ex-President Goodluck Jonathan gave to all of them during his tenure.
Dokubo, leader of Niger-Delta People’s Volunteer Force, NDPVF, has launched series of verbal attacks on Tompolo since the Federal Government, through the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited, NNPCL, awarded the pipeline surveillance contract to Tompolo and other contractors in the Niger-Delta.
It will be recalled that Commander of defunct MEND, Victor-Ben Ebikabowei, aka Boyloaf, and other ex-militant leaders and stakeholders of the Niger Delta, had on Monday, lashed out at Dokubo over his recent outburst against Tompolo over the pipeline surveillance contract.
The Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, the South-South regional group, and Ijaw National Congress, INC, the umbrella socio-cultural body of Ijaw ethnic nationality in the Niger Delta, had also intervened in the simmering feud.
This came as Niger Delta activist and Itsekiri leader, Chief Rita-Lori Ogbebor, yesterday warned the Federal Government to, as a matter of urgency, withdraw the pipeline contract awarded to Tompolo, describing it as invitation to anarchy.
Reacting, yesterday, Ijaw Peoples Development Initiative, IPDI, a rights group in Niger-Delta, yesterday, urged FG to disregard the call by Lori-Ogbebor to revoke the pipeline surveillance contract awarded Tompolo.
Defunct MEND commander, Boyloaf, who spoke for other ex-militant leaders had said on Tuesday: “I condemn the attack on Tompolo by Dokubo-Asari. This is unacceptable and unexpected of a leader of his calibre.
‘’He is qualified for the contract and Dokubo-Asari did not oppose when somebody else from Edo State, the late Capt Hosa Okunbo did a similar contract in Rivers. His company still operates in Rivers.”
Tompolo just a technical partner — Source
Tompolo could not be reached for comments on Dokubo’s allegations yesterday, but a source familiar with the matter said: “Maybe he is talking about the Global West Vessel Specialist Nigeria Limited’s $103 million security contract with the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA.
Jonathan confirmed job is for us —Dokubo
However, Dokubo, who did not hide his anger over the Tompolo contract, in a Facebook video, said the Amanyanabo of Okirika, King Ateke Tom, Victor- Ben Ebikabowei, a.k.a. Boyloaf, he, and other ex-militant leaders visited former President Jonathan while he was in office, and confirmed that the contract was for all of them, adding that Tompolo stuck to his guns.
Though Dokubo admitted executing and receiving payment for a pipeline surveillance contract under Jonathan, he said this in a conversation with Tompolo after he sealed the current contract. In addition, he spoke about why he (Dokubo) will not go to Oporoza to meet Tompolo.
He said: “Many people have called me about Tompolo getting a contract. I do not have a problem with Tompolo having a contract, never, and I will never have a problem with Tompolo or any other person.
“Tompolo had been doing contracts, I never complained. Now, during the time of Goodluck (former President), he awarded through NIMASA a coastal protection contract to Tompolo, Amanyanabo Ateke Tom, myself, Boyloaf, Egberipapa, Farah and everybody went to meet with the former President and he said the contract was for all of us. And we left that place. We tried to communicate with Tompolo. He said the contract was exclusively his. We did not want to raise an eyebrow over the $144 million that they gave him per year. He did that contract for two years. He did not give anybody a dime.
“Today, they lied that the Trans-Nembe line contract was the Olu of Warri’s, who has Rivers State; it is a lie. I am talking of Kalabari, I am not talking of Rivers State. 83 kilometers of pipeline pass through Kalabari, through my native Kula, my native Ilama to Cawthorne Channel. They gave it to him.
“People said he is not a greedy man. If a man can take $144 million that the former President gave us, Goodluck is alive, let them meet him. Boyloaf was there, Ateke was there, ask them. I will not try to please anybody; he vehemently refused that the contract is his, that he will involve nobody and did not involve any of us.
“I do not need anybody’s respect, you do not have to respect me, I will say the truth. You cannot take what is Gbaramatu’s, after taking Gbaramatu, you want to take Kalabari’s own (portion). I do not want to talk about these things but when you make comments, I will talk about it, and I will clarify issues.
“So, if the Olu of Warri has taken Rivers State, he took this, he took that, what was the approach of Olu of Warri to the people from where they gave them and the approach of Tompolo? Did Tompolo reach out to anybody when he got the contract? He assembled small boys at Oporoza and people started complaining, and he said we should come to Oporoza.
Why I will not go to Oporoza
“I spoke to him on the phone; I am older than him; that I should take my two legs, enter a boat, and go to Oporoza. Amanyanabo Ateke should take his two legs, enter a boat, and come to Oporoza. All the others should come, they went because they want the money, I cannot condescend to that level because of money and go to Oporoza.
“What is the approach of the Olu of Warri to the people within the area that he operates, how has the Olu of Warri been reaching out to the people? Did he sit somewhere and be sending people or even if he sent people, did he ask all of them to come to Ode-Itsekiri or to Warri to meet him in his palace?”
Reverse contract or wait for anarchy, Lori-Ogbebor tells FG
Reacting to the contract awarded Tompolo yesterday, Chief Lori-Ogbebor lambasted the Federal Government for failing in its responsibility to manage oil resources in the Niger Delta and maintaining peace in the country.
Addressing newsmen in Abuja noted that the award of the humongous contract sum to one individual in the Niger Delta is a clear demonstration of government abdicating its responsibilities to the people.
Chief Lori-Egbebor cautioned that both state and federal governments must demonstrate the needed political will to implement the NDDC Master Plan and avoid enriching few individuals to the detriment of the common good of the people of Niger Delta, insisting that failure to heed the advice could spell doom for the country.
MainPower Electricity Distribution Limited (MEDL) has restored power supply to parts of Enugu metropolis, which witnessed darkness.
Some parts of Enugu metropolis, under the Band A tariff regime, during the weekend witnessed three consecutive days of blackout.
The Head, Communications of MainPower, Mr Emeka Ezeh, disclosed this in a statement he issued on Tuesday in Enugu.
According to him, MainPower wishes to inform its esteemed customers that power supply to the Gariki Injection Substation was successfully restored on Monday, July 20, at about 8:30p.m.
“This is following the successful resolution of a major fault involving the indoor 11kV breaker at the station.
“The fault, which occurred on Friday, July 17, affected electricity supply to customers served by the Army and Gariki 11kV feeders.
“Consequently, normal electricity supply has now been restored to all affected areas,” he said.
Ezeh appreciated residents and customers for their patience, understanding and cooperation throughout the outage.
He noted that the company remained committed to delivering safe, reliable, and improved electricity services to its customers and residents of the state.
It would be recalled that MainPower, which is a subsidiary of the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC), is in-charge of electricity distribution in Enugu State.
By Okey Maduforo, Awka
Four herders and several cattle were killed on Tuesday when suspected gunmen attacked a cattle camp in Ifite Awka Community, Awka South Local Government Area of Anambra State.
The incident has sparked concern in Awka, the state capital, as the attackers reportedly invaded the settlement and opened fire on the herders before fleeing the scene.
The attack has also prompted the leadership of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) to appeal for calm among its members, expressing confidence that the perpetrators would be apprehended and brought to justice.
In a statement, the National Deputy Director-General of MACBAN, Gidado Siddiki, said the four deceased herders were members of the same family.
According to him, the incident occurred at the cattle camp of Alhaji Aminu Mohammed on Tuesday, July 21, 2026.
He said, “According to reports, unknown armed assailants invaded the cattle camp while the herders were peacefully engaged in their legitimate cattle-rearing activities.
“The attackers opened fire sporadically, resulting in the deaths of four herders, namely Mohammed Bujumi, Hassan Bujumi, Abubakar Bujumi and Sani Bujumi.
“Several cattle were also killed during the attack, while the assailants reportedly fled with some of the cattle carcasses towards the nearby Mgbakwu Community.”
Siddiki added that another herder, identified as Usman Iliyasu, narrowly escaped the attack.
MACBAN condemned the incident as “heinous and senseless,” calling on security agencies to immediately investigate the attack, apprehend those responsible and prosecute them.
The association also urged the Anambra State Government to take urgent steps to strengthen security and protect the lives and property of residents.
While appreciating the prompt intervention of the Joint Task Force and the state government in recovering the bodies of the victims, Siddiki appealed to MACBAN members to remain calm and avoid taking the law into their own hands.
“We urge everyone to cooperate fully with the security agencies and allow the government to carry out the necessary investigations and take appropriate action to ensure justice is served,” he said.
Confirming the attack, the Anambra State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, said a police-led joint security team responded to the scene following a distress call.
He said the operatives discovered the bodies of four male victims who had suffered fatal injuries.
“Preliminary observations revealed that the victims had their hands tied and sustained multiple injuries, including machete cuts and blunt force trauma. Also, two residential huts within the settlement were set ablaze during the attack,” Ikenga said.
The police spokesperson further disclosed that four dead cows were found within the vicinity, while two other cattle had been slaughtered, with portions of their meat removed.
He added that security operatives recovered sacks containing abandoned chunks of meat a short distance from the scene.
According to Ikenga, preliminary findings indicated that the attackers were armed with sophisticated weapons, including AK-47 rifles, pump-action guns, double-barrel guns and machetes.
He said one survivor escaped unharmed and was assisting the police-led joint security team with useful information that could aid the investigation.
The Anambra State Police Command urged members of the public to remain calm and cooperate with security agencies by providing credible and timely information that could assist the ongoing investigation.
The Command said further developments would be communicated as the investigation progresses.
A former Assistant Director of the Department of State Services (DSS), Dennis Amachree, has offered a fresh account of the circumstances surrounding the death of former Nigerian military Head of State, General Sani Abacha.
Amachree claimed that Abacha died of a cardiac arrest during an intimate encounter with a female pharmacist at the Aso Rock Guest House in Abuja.
The revelation was contained in his newly published memoir, DSS @40: My Journey Behind the Shield, in which he presented what he described as the true account of Abacha’s controversial death on June 8, 1998.
Abacha, who ruled Nigeria from November 1993 until his death in office, has remained the subject of several conspiracy theories concerning the circumstances of his demise.
According to excerpts of Amachree’s memoir published by The Nation, the former DSS officer, who was then Assistant Director of Operations and Intelligence at the Lagos Command, said Abacha died at about 4:05 a.m. while in the company of a female pharmacist at the Presidential Villa.
Amachree said the woman had accompanied her elder sister, whom he described as Abacha’s girlfriend, to the Presidential Villa after the former military ruler reportedly purchased a new SUV for the sister.
He stated that shortly after the intimate encounter, the pharmacist noticed that Abacha had suddenly become motionless and unresponsive.
According to his account, she checked his pulse but could not find one. She then hurriedly dressed and requested transportation back to her hotel.
The former DSS officer said the soldier on duty, unaware of what had happened, arranged a vehicle for her.
He added that after informing her elder sister about Abacha’s condition, the pharmacist was taken to the Abuja airport, where she boarded a 7:00 a.m. Okada Air flight to Lagos.
Amachree further disclosed that Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, Abacha’s Chief Security Officer, was informed of the former Head of State’s condition at about 5:00 a.m. and immediately ordered efforts to locate the woman who had been with him.
However, by the time security operatives arrived at the Hilton Hotel in Abuja, the pharmacist had already left for Lagos.
Amachree said he later received instructions from the DSS headquarters in Abuja to locate and interrogate the woman in Lagos. She was eventually traced to Ogudu and brought to his office for questioning.
He recalled that her first words during the interrogation were: “I did not kill him, he died on top of me.”
The former intelligence officer said he obtained a detailed statement from the woman and subsequently contacted the DSS headquarters, after which she was flown back to Abuja.
Amachree maintained that the pharmacist’s account supports the conclusion that Abacha suffered a cardiac arrest during sexual intercourse.
He said the account also challenges longstanding claims that the former military ruler was poisoned or died after being entertained by foreign women.
According to Amachree, the account contained in his memoir represents what actually happened and should help end decades of speculation surrounding Abacha’s final moments.
General Sani Abacha died on June 8, 1998, after nearly five years in power. His death occurred less than a month before the death of Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, widely regarded as the presumed winner of the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election, who died in detention under the Abacha regime.
By Okey Maduforo, Awka
The proposed local government elections in Anambra State may face fresh legal hurdles as 56 serving councillors have approached the court seeking an order restraining the Anambra State Independent Electoral Commission (ANSIEC) from conducting the polls.
The councillors, who filed the suit barely one month before the scheduled election, are challenging the planned exercise on the grounds that their tenure of office has not yet expired.
Recall that the Anambra State House of Assembly recently passed an amendment to the state electoral law, limiting the tenure of elected local government chairmen, deputy chairmen and councillors to two years.
In the suit, marked No. A/261/2026, the plaintiffs joined the Attorney-General of Anambra State, the Anambra State House of Assembly and ANSIEC as the first, second and third defendants respectively.
The plaintiffs are seeking, among other reliefs, a declaration that the statutory system of local government guaranteed under Section 7(1) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, requires a secure, stable and reasonable tenure capable of promoting effective grassroots governance.
They are also asking the court to declare Section 110(A) of the Anambra State Electoral (Amendment No. 3) Law, 2024, which limits the tenure of democratically elected local government chairmen, deputy chairmen and ward councillors to two years, inconsistent with Section 7(1) of the Constitution and therefore unconstitutional, null and void.
The plaintiffs further want the court to strike down, invalidate and expunge Section 110(4) of the Anambra State Electoral (Amendment No. 3) Law, 2024, from the state’s statute books on the grounds that it is inconsistent with the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
They are also seeking an order affirming that democratically elected local government officials are entitled to a secure four-year tenure, which they contend is in line with the tenure enjoyed by elected officials at the federal and state levels.
In addition, the councillors are asking the court to issue a perpetual injunction restraining the defendants, their agents, privies or anyone acting on their behalf from dissolving, terminating or interfering with the tenure of the elected local government councils at the expiration of two years.
They are equally seeking an order restraining ANSIEC from taking any steps, publishing election timetables or conducting any elections aimed at replacing the current elected local government officials until they complete what the plaintiffs describe as their full four-year tenure.
The suit could potentially affect the planned local government elections in the state, depending on the outcome of the legal challenge.
This is as the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, appeared at the headquarters of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission to testify in the ongoing investigation into the activities of the fictitious agency.
The apex bank’s admission came at the public hearing convened at the National Assembly Complex by the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee investigating the existence and operations of the PFIPC, chaired by Yusuf Gagdi and inaugurated by Speaker Tajudeen Abbas.
Monday’s hearing revealed critical gaps in the bureaucratic processes that allowed the fictitious agency to obtain the functional perks accorded to real government agencies.
Represented by the Director of its Banking Services Department, Hamisu Ibrahim, the CBN said the accounts, one in US dollars, the other in British pounds sterling, were opened following a mandate received from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.
“On July 30, 2025, we received a mandate dated July 29, 2025 from the Office of the Accountant-General. We received the mandate to authorise two accounts, one a US dollar domiciliary account, the other a pound domiciliary account, for the Presidential Economic Advisory Council/Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council,” Ibrahim told the committee.
He explained the CBN’s verification process, saying, “The process of opening an account requires a mandate from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.
“Once we receive that mandate, we perform all the necessary verifications to confirm that this mandate is actually coming from that office.
“The department that handles the mandate is different from the department that actually does the account opening,” he said.
Nevertheless, he noted that no one came to activate the accounts after they were opened.
“We did not receive any correspondence, mandate, signature or mandate cards. We were not introduced to the authorising or approving officers.
“Based on that, those accounts remain inactive, with zero balance. There have been no foreign exchange allocations.
“The accounts have maintained zero balance from inception to date and have never recorded any inflow or outflow,” Ibrahim said, adding that a statement of account had been attached to the committee’s records.
However, the CBN’s account directly contradicted an earlier submission by Accountant-General Shamseldeen Ogunjimi, who had claimed that no accounts were opened in the PFIPC’s name.
Also testifying before the committee, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Didi Walson-Jack, said her office never allocated any space to the PFIPC.
Records available to the Office of the Head of the Civil Service, she said, showed that the office space reportedly occupied by the council at the Federal Secretariat Phase III had been officially allocated to the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, not to the fictitious council.
“There is speculation that the council occupied office space in the Federal Secretariat Phase III. We can state categorically that the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation did not allocate any office space to the council.
“The office space indicated as the council’s official address forms part of the office accommodation allocated to the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation for the use of the OSGF and presidential bodies,” she said.
Walson-Jack, however, told the committee that during the 2025 Annual Manpower Budget Defence Exercise, the council submitted additional documents through one Patricia Akhigbe, including the appointment letter of its Director-General and details of its mandate, after which its request was processed alongside those of 87 other ministries, departments and agencies.
An authorised establishment for 314 positions was subsequently issued to the council, and a recruitment waiver followed days later, she explained.
Walson-Jack said Akhigbe had since been invited for questioning by the police.
She stressed that her office neither deployed staff to the council nor approved any recruitment, and urged the committee to direct further inquiries to the Office of the SGF.
In his ruling after the day’s hearing, committee chairman Gagdi asked the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, and other top government functionaries to appear before the panel on Thursday.
He stated, “In continuation of this assignment, the secretariat should invite the SGF to appear and brief this committee on the issues raised.
“Also to appear on Thursday are the Inspector-General of Police, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Finance, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice as well as the Minister of Budget and National Planning.”
“Also invited are the Accountant-General of the Federation, heads of the Budget Office of the Federation, Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission, the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission.”
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