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From Sola Ojo, Kaduna
A coalition of Arewa Civil Society Groups on Tuesday cautioned other groups to leave the beneficiary of the crude oil surveillance contract awarded, Mr Government Ekpemupolo, popularly known as Tompolo, alone to enable him to concentrate on the task before him.
There has been back and forth on the credibility of Tompolo to secure the contract awarded by the federal government through the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited on the allegation of his earlier involvement in pipeline vandalism.
A spokesman for the coalition, Aminu Abbas, told newsmen in Kaduna that the groups that make up the coalition frowned at a group that earlier kicked against the award of the surveillance contract to the Niger Delta freedom fighter.
“Our attention has been drawn to the unpatriotic call made by a faceless Arewa group on the crude oil surveillance contract awarded by the federal government through NNPC limited to a respected nationalist of repute, Government Ekpemupolo better known as Tompolo.
“The condemnation call is baseless hence we distance the good people of northern Nigeria to such a myopic action of some faceless group camouflaging in the name of AREWA.
“It’s important to note that the era of shadow chasing is over, what is expected of any concern Arewa Group at this critical material time is to engage all concerned stakeholders from within and outside our region on how best to address the lingering problem of insecurity and bring it to a logical end,” he said.
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According to him, “as of today, the issues affecting us (Arewa) include banditry, cattle rustling, kidnapping and another menace of insecurities that had remained a new order of the day.
“The activities mentioned have crippled our region’s economic activities and if appropriate measures are not taken, nobody can predict the faith of our region in the next year.
“We are confident that the government has awarded the contract to his company based on his track record, loyalty & dedication to the Nation and his familiarity with the terrain and this will help reduce oil theft and bunkering by over 85% against what we are currently witnessing as well improve IGR of our nation.
It is high time we join hands together with our southern brothers to build our nation together and do away with all forms of ethnic sentiments and the federal government under President Muhammadu Buhari has done the right thing by awarding the contract to him for the sole purpose of protecting part of our vital national wealth/infrastructure.
“We, therefore, want to use this medium in thanking Mr President for taking the right decision because our National asset will be secured even more by engaging the host communities to also join hands with our security agencies in protecting this facility and in return would boast the Nigerian economy.
