TheCable

Lagos-based lawyer, Festus Keyamo, has called on President Goodluck Jonathan to caution militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo (also known as Tompolo) over his excesses.

In an open letter to the president, Keyamo accused Tompolo of undue interference with the proposed commissioning of a project in a community in Delta state.

Keyamo alleged that Tompolo has threatened that if the project is not renamed after another community, he would prevent President Goodluck Jonathan from inaugurating it on Friday.

“High Chief Government Ekpemupolo (alias Tompolo) – who recently threatened to kill me – has ganged up to give your Excellency certain conditions upon which you can be allowed to perform the ground-breaking ceremony of the Escravos Export Processing Zone (EPZ) Project located in Ugborodo on Friday, November 14, 2014,” he wrote.

“One of such conditions is that the name of the project, which has since been known and referred to by its location, that is Ogidigben (which is an Itsekiri community) must be changed to include the name “Gbaramatu” (an Ijaw community), which is a community that has nothing to do with the present location of the EPZ Project.

“Your Excellency, the Ogidigben people are proud of the great people of Gbaramatu Kingdom, and are not in any way denigrating them, but there is no point renaming a project after a city that does not host such a project. It makes no sense.”

Appealing to Jonathan to look into the issue, Keyamo claimed that some of the militants have been taking advantage of hailing from the Ijaw tribe like Jonathan to foment trouble.

“We are informed that this latest provocation follows a pattern against our clients and the Itsekiri people that have existed for some time now. And on each occasion they parade your name as their ‘backbone’.

“This is therefore a call for you to rise above such mundane sentiments, and be the president of the entire country and not just the president of Gbaramatu Kingdom.

“How can an individual and his group be thinking and boasting that they are above the law, and threatening everybody to submission in Delta State, including the governor himself. Unfortunately, they use your name to perpetrate this unholy attitude.”

Late last month, Keyamo petitioned Sulaiman Abba, the inspector general of police, to investigate a threat from Tompolo over the local government election in Delta.

The lawyer claimed that the militant leader connived with the governor to replace the name of the winner of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) primary election in Warri south-west local government with that of the younger brother of Tompolo.

Tompolo’s brother was eventually announced winner of the election.