The last may not have been heard of how Ijaw militants loyal to High Chief Government Ekpemupolo, otherwise known as Tompolo ambushed 14 Media practitioners and six other passengers of a boat in the Escravos River at about 1:00pm Sunday November 17, dislodged and disconnected the boat that carried the 20 passengers and ordered the passengers to enter one of their (i.e militants) boats and towed the initial boat conveying the 20 passengers, diverted all the passengers to Tompolo Oporaza home and tortured them for about six hours before they were handed over to Naval Authorities at about 7:00pm the same day in the middle of the Escravos River.
Fresh Angle International can report that the 20 passengers of the speed boat, including two camera men, a Librarian with Fresh Angle International Newspaper, 11 journalists, five other passengers and the boat driver left the Ajudaibo jetty in Ugborodo few minutes to 1.pm on- board on open speed boat en-route Warri after extensive coverage of the on- going Ogidigben EPZ site and protest/rally of Ugborodo people as well as their Ilaje customary tenants. Barely 10 minutes after the 14 Media Practitioners and six others departed the Ajudaibo jetty, they were ambushed with about six speed boats in a Commando Style led by one “old soldier,” a youth who immediately ordered the 20 passengers on-board to enter one of their boats and head to Oporaza through a creek.
Before the journalists and other passengers on-board could know it, they were at the house of Ex-militant leader, High Chief Government Ekpemupolo A.K.A Tompolo. Their abductors who were in scores, rudely and violently ordered the 14 Media practitioners and other occupants to come down from their alternative boat with all their belongings, including high definition video cameras, still cameras, midgets, personal belongings and the leftover of what the passengers were carrying were immediately moved by the Tompolo boys alongside their captors to the premises of Chief Ekpemupolo in a violent manner, with Channels TV camera man being one of the first victims of the militants’ terror. They left his camera almost smashed before the journalists and other passengers on-board could come to terms with reality, the blood thirsty looking youths armed with battle axes, thick whips, clubs among other dangerous weapons started hitting some of their captors.
While the immediate attacks were going on for reasons not immediately clear to the journalists and others on-board the boat, the immediate younger brother of Tompolo, identified simply as Prince came out from Chief Tompolo’s private residence and took control of the dreadful scene, demanding to know those who were journalists and the medium they stood for.
While the media men were trying to identify themselves, all their cameras, mobile phones, wristwatches and personal belongings were seized, just as some other passengers of the boat were heavily descended upon with dangerous arms, while mobile calls were coming through from Gbaramatu leaders like Chief Paul Bebenibo, High Chief Government Ekpemupolo and the Chairman of Warri South-West Local Government, Hon. George Ekpemupolo to Prince Ekpemupolo. The callers specifically requested to speak with veteran journalists like Sola Adebayo and Emma Amaize of Vanguard Newspaper.
The comments by the callers particularly asked the two veteran journalists to cooperate with the dreaded militants and why they didn’t get clearance from them before coming to cover the press briefing/protest of Ugborodo people against the aborted Ground Breaking Ceremony. Just when the two journalists and their younger colleagues, some of whom covered similar protest of the Gbaramatu people against the Ground Breaking Ceremony by President Goodluck Jonathan from taking place days earlier were wondering the reasons behind the co-ordinated phone calls, one of the irate youths came with a black bag purportedly containing a pistol about 40mins later, asking the Media practitioners and the other passengers who has the bag? A couple of hours later, some frenzy youths brought a brand new looking riffle, claiming they found the riffle, three cartridges and several bullets in the original boat that conveyed the 20 abducted occupants from Ajudaibo, Escravos which was earlier emptied alongside the passengers. It was at that stage that the media practitioners stated smelling foul play and possible set-up for gun-running allegation, especially after one of their Senior colleagues, Mr. Emma Arubi, an Itsekiri was asked to seat down with the other six passengers who were not journalists and the pistol as well as riffle purportedly found in the emptied boat were forcefully placed on their hands of the accused passengers with photographs and video recording done to reflect a criminal situation.
The humiliation of Mr. Emma Arubi and the other non media practitioners lasted for several hours with their faces lying down and the militants seeming determined to intimidate the passengers, including a relation of Chief Ayirimi Emami identified simply as Kiki and one Zagi to admit that the guns placed on their hands were given to them by Chief Ayirimi Emami. Failure for the non media practitioners to accept the accusation attracted further brutalization and humiliation tantamount to murder attempt.
Six passengers, including a journalist that were tortured and accused of gun-running by Tompolo’s militants
The whole episode lasted till about 6:30 pm before the no-nonsense militants drove the 20 passengers of the boat, including the 14 media practitioners back to the Escravos River and handed them over to a joint patrol team of the Army and Navy. While the Navy took the 20 passengers to their House boat near Chevron location in Escravos before they were ferried to Warri the next day to NNS Delta after which they were released at about 4:30 pm.
Meanwhile, investigations from close community sources in Ugborodo reveal that the action of the Ijaw militants did not take place without informants from an Ugborodo Community. It was gathered that immediately the 20 passengers left the Ajudaibo jetty, their movement were adequately tracked and a source from Ode-Ugborodo purportedly gave detail to the Ijaw youths who subsequently ambushed the journalists. It was not however clear if the prolonged dispute in the community cum political rivalry may have given rise to the allegation of sell-out.
Earlier, the people of Ugborodo community had in a communiqué after extensive deliberations following the aborted Ogidigben EPZ ground breaking ceremony by President Goodluck Jonathan accused the Gbaramatu Ijaws of being the real oppressors, claiming that the Nigerian Maritime University, NMU, NIMASA Dockyard and Shipyard, Okerenkoko, Shell Forcados Terminal and Yokiri Flow Station “are all located on Itsekiri land, but renamed by the Ijaws and forcefully taken over”.
According to the Ugborodo indigenes, all contracts in NIMASA Dockyard and Shipyard as well as NMU and Forcados Terminal are being done by the Ijaws alone without any Itsekiri benefiting “even when those places are very close to us”.
The communiqué which was signed by six prominent indigenes of Ugborodo, including Chief Ayirimi Emami and Madam Mercy Olowu declared that the entire land mass of the Ogidigben EPZ covering 2,560 hectares and the ancillary Nigeria Port Authority jetty covering 335 hectares is owned by Ugborodo.
They warned the Ijaws against further threat of war, stressing that no ethnic group has monopoly of violence and called on the Federal Government to fix a fresh date for the Ground Breaking Ceremony of the EPZ.
Fresh Angle International can also report that apart from the communiqué, the people of Ugborodo and their Ilaje neighbours in Ogidigben Seashore, Egbe-Okuta, Ago-Ilaje, Ilesanmi, Agodo, Costain and Ogoluwayo communities also staged a peaceful protest calling on President Jonathan to immediately fix a date for the Ogidigben EPZ Ground Breaking Ceremony.
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