Outrage over N5.6bn contracts for Asari, Ateke, Tompolo
By Segun Ajiboye/Bisi Olaniyi, Port Harcourt/Tony Akowe,Kaduna 13 hours 22 minutes ago

From across the country yesterday came a cascade of outrage over the N5.6billion contracts said to have been awarded by the Federal Government to ex-Niger Delta militants Mujahhid Dokubo-Asari,Ebikaowei “Boyloaf” Victor Ben,Ateke Tom and Government “Tompolo” Ekpumopolo.

The American Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that Dokubo-Asari,leader of the Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force earns $9million (N1.420billion) annually ,guarding pipelines of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC),while Tompolo is paid $22.9million (N3.614billion) for a similar contract.

The NNPC ,according to the report,gives $3.8million each annually to Boyloaf and Ateke.

Kaduna-based civil rights activist Mallam Shehu Sani called the contracts a fraud and a clear indication that the agitation in the region was not done in the interest of the suffering people of the Niger Delta.

Sani, in an interview, said: “A nation that buys its peace is a nation indebted to war.

“ The revelations clearly expose the facade and the inherent fraud in the truce and the amnesty programme

“The huge and scandalous payment to pacify the militants clearly demonstrates that the agitation in the Niger Delta is not about the plights of the suffering people there, but a mercantile and bogus approach to state extortion and blackmail.

“There is nowhere in the world where freedom fighters are paid for fighting. The diversion of billions of Naira that should be ideally spent on health, education and infrastructure for the appeasement of the militant is an act of irresponsible governance and a recipe for political and economic disaster.

“The undeserved appeasement of the ex- militants by the Federal Government amounts to a state in perpetual payment of ransom. The Niger Delta agitation has become a big and lucrative business draining the economy of the country and delivering no good to the ordinary masses of Niger Delta.

“President Jonathan should not leave behind a legacy of appeasement to an extortionist few but of delivery of good governance to all”.

The Arewa Consultative Forum(ACF) said it was not surprised by the development since projects and contracts have always been skewed in favour of South-South by the Jonathan administration.

ACF spokesman,Mr. Anthony Sani, said: “It is important to point out that the Federal Government is too intelligent not to know that the constitution which has brought about the government does not allow some individuals or groups to have undue advantage in the distribution of and access to national resources by way of political appointments, employment, projects or infrastructure and contracts.

“The purpose of such provision is to command loyalty of constituent parts of the nation that are needed for national solidarity and unity devoid of any sense of undue insular particularism.

“And in participatory democracy, people are at liberty to cry foul whenever they notice constitutional infractions by the government in order to inspire corrections on the part of the government.”

The Executive Director of the Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (IHRHL),Port Harcourt, Mr. Anyakwee Nsirimovu, described the contract award as the height of insensitivity to the plight of Nigerians, especially Niger Deltans, who he said, continue to suffer in the midst of plenty.

Nsirimovu, in a telephone interview, said: “Contract award in Nigeria is guided by laws and regulations. I do not feel that being ex-militants should be the criterion for them to be blindly awarded contracts. It is condemnable.

“Under the public procurement law of Nigeria, there are processes for tendering and contract award, which must be transparent and accountable. If due process was followed, no problem, but if it was not followed, that is quite unfortunate.

“With the award of N5.6 billion contract to the ex-militants, there will be no value for money in the country. The funds belong to all Nigerians. Contracts should not be on patronage basis. The contract to ex-militants is not part of the amnesty programme. The amnesty should not be monetised.

“Niger Delta youths, who never participated in armed struggle, will now be motivated to carry arms, as a result of the contract award to the ex-militants. The nation’s future is fraught with danger. Nigeria will pay the price.”

However, a Port Harcourt-based legal practitioner, Uche Onyeagucha, who is also Ateke Tom’s lawyer sees nothing wrong with the N5.6 billion contracts.

Onyeagucha said: “The pipelines deserve to be protected. Nigeria’s economy is tied to the production of crude oil and gas. We may be creating more problems through oil sabotage and breaking of pipelines, if they are not well protected.”

Calls to the mobile lines of Dokubo-Asari, Ateke, Boyloaf and Tompolo were either not picked or not connected for many hours yesterday.

Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and presidential candidate of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in the 1999 presidential election, Chief Olu Falae, described the report as a sad commentary on the security system of Nigeria.

According to Falae, the oil operators resorted to the use of private security operatives to guard pipelines because they have lost confidence in the police and the army to secure their business operations.

“If the oil companies feel they need security from a group of people for their business to go on, that has nothing to do with me or Nigeria. However, we should understand that the oil companies are resorting to the militants because they have lost confidence in the police and the army. It is a sad commentary on the security system of the country.”

Also speaking, former Lagos State police commissioner, Abubakar Tsav, described the situation as sad and dangerous for the country.

According to the former police officer, the huge payment made to the militants has further empowered them to purchase more ammunition to cause more havoc in the country.

“It is a big surprise that the government would allow the same people that have caused havoc, destroying the same pipelines to now earn such huge amount of money in the guise of guarding the pipelines,” Tsav said, adding: “What this means is that the militants have been further empowered by the government to buy more arms to cause havoc in the country. This is very sad and dangerous for the country.”

He voiced his disappointment about President Goodluck Jonathan giving in to what he termed the ‘blackmail’ of the militants. “They are blackmailing the government, and unfortunately, government has caved in to their blackmail by making such money available to them,” he said.

Tsav also expressed the fear that the revelation that the militants now earn such huge sum of money may encourage other people with similar intents from other parts of the country to cause trouble, hoping they too would be ‘settled”

“My fear now is that other people may be encouraged to engage in similar activities, and hope that the government will give them similar money. This is dangerous and we should be careful.”

http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/news/59001-outrage-over-n5-6bn-contracts-for-asari-ateke-tompolo.html

Are you surprised? Sorry I'm not. The government of no action but settlement is simply at it again.

Sani, in an interview, said: “A nation that buys its peace is a nation indebted to war

That line above got me seriously thinkining about the state of the nation!

okunboy:
That line above got me seriously thinkining about the state of the nation!

Exactly

Front page material!

Wots gudluck doin about it

Wahala dey