Tompolo and the Amnesty Deal
‘I----, residing at----formerly engaged in militant activities in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, do solemnly swear, (or affirm) that I hereby renounce all my previous acts of militancy, including my affiliation and allegiance to any militant group and/or organization; and that I will henceforth faithfully support, protect, and defend the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and respect every constituted authority; that I shall never again engage in any act of militancy whatsoever; and that I will, in like manner, abide by; and faithfully and lawfully support every effort being made by the Federal, States and Local Governments and their agencies for the overall development of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.’
Each of the Niger Delta militants granted amnesty by late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua in June 2009 swore to the foregoing oath. But whoever becomes president next year will inherit the challenge of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP). I recently encountered PAP Interim Administrator Major General Barry Ndiomu (rtd), and the conclusion I drew from our conversation is that like many government programmes initiated with good intention, a scandalous mismanagement of scarce resources over the years has turned PAP into another slush fund to line pockets for political patronage. And we are talking of several hundreds of billions of Naira over a period of 13 years.
In August, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) engaged the services of an oil pipeline surveillance firm, Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited, led by Government Ekpemupolo, popularly known as Tompolo, to guard the oil pipeline network. Following the controversial decision, readers who sought my view could not understand my endorsement. While the NNPCL may have signed the contract out of desperation given the quantum of oil being lost to criminal cartels, I am also aware that this was part of the Niger Delta amnesty deal with ex-militant leaders. I should know because I had the privilege of sitting with the late president, along with his principal secretary, David Edevbie, at separate meetings with Tompolo, Ateke Tom, Farah Dagogo and Henry Okah. In fact, the only such meeting the president attended without either of us was the one held in Yenogoa with Ebikabowei Victor Ben, aka ‘Boyloaf’, but he had then Bayelsa State Governor and current Minister of State, Petroleum, Timipre Silva with him. One of the accepted recommendations from the amnesty panel was that “qualified ex-militants should be employed by Private Security outfits to perform surveillance duties on oil pipelines and installations.”
Meanwhile, I understand that oil production has recovered from an all-time low of 1.1 million barrels per day (BPD) in August 2022 prior to signing the contract to an average of over 1.4 million BPD in November, translating to an increase of over 300,000 BPD. Data from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) also reveal that more wells and associated surface facilities that were shut down because of incessant theft and vandalism are being reopened. Similar impact is being recorded on gas production. Prior to this period, according to industry sources, outage of major trunklines had severely impacted gas production and evacuation thus depriving gas power plants and gas-based industries feedstock for operations and gas
exports through NLNG. Several factors, including renewed offensive by the military and closer collaboration with the communities by industry operators may be responsible for this but one can also not discount the efforts of ex-militant leaders who know the terrain. Besides, keeping a man like Tompolo on the side of the law is a no-brainer.
Before I make my point, let me quickly add that the amnesty programme was not an event. It was a process designed to improve the environment, human capacity, and overall development in the Niger Delta. And it was well planned. To commence the exercise, President Yar’Adua constituted an amnesty panel headed by Major General Godwin Abbe (rtd). Members included Elder Godswill Orubebe, then Niger Delta Minister, Air Chief Paul Dike, Chief of Defence Staff at the time, Mike Okiro, then Inspector General of Police, Mr Bukhari Bello, a legal practitioner, Dr Timiebi Koripamo-Agary, a retired federal permanent secretary as well as representatives of Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Ondo, and Rivers States.
The Presidential directive to the committee included preparation of a step-by-step framework for amnesty and complete disarmament, demobilization, and re-integration of ex-militants with appropriate timelines. By the presidential mandate, those with criminal records should not be allowed to take advantage of the amnesty while the panel was to work out the cost to government. The panel was also given the leeway to examine any other matter considered relevant to its assignment and was allowed to invite any person or group of people that could assist them.
The first issue the panel resolved was the legal hurdle of whether the president could offer amnesty to people who had not been convicted of any offence. Their conclusion was that although the term ‘Amnesty’ is not mentioned in the 1999 Nigerian Constitution, Section 175 empowers the president to grant pardon to any person concerned with or convicted of any offence. “The same section divides the power of pardon into two categories. These are those that concern persons who have committed offences but have not been prosecuted, and those who have been prosecuted and convicted of offences. The panel believes that the amnesty being proposed would encourage the militants to voluntarily come forward and be reconciled with society. The Panel therefore recommends that all categories of militants should be allowed to benefit from the amnesty which should take the form of a presidential broadcast whereby details of it would be proclaimed to the public, including the militants and the international community,” according to their report.
In the course of their work, the amnesty panel divided itself into four sub-committees: Amnesty, Disarmament and Demobilization, Publicity and Liaison and Rehabilitation and Reintegration and coopted many people from both public and private sectors. For the amnesty sub-committee chaired by Okiro, co-opted members included Dafe Akpedeye, SAN, G. E. Odegbaro, Bestman Nnwoka, O. J. Oworibo, Azubuko Udah and Y.M. Bichi (current Director General of the State Security Service).