Ex-militant leader, High Chief Government Ekpomupolo popularly called Tompolo, has denied allegations that the past administration of President Goodluck Jonathan paid him N1.5 billion monthly to secure the nation’s maritime domain.
The pioneer chairman of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Tijani Ramalan, had made the allegation on Tuesday in Abuja and called on the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari to probe the payments, which he said commenced shortly after Jonathan won election in 2011.
Speaking through his spokesperson, Comrade Paul Bebenimibo, the former militant leader accused Ramalan of merely seeking desperate attention in the hope of getting a job in the current dispensation.
The statement reads in part: “My attention has been drawn to a publication in the Leadership newspaper of Wednesday June 3, 2015. In the said publication, one Ahmed Tijani Ramalan made very wild, unsubstantiated allegations against my person that the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) pays me the sum of N1.5 billion monthly for the protection of the nation’s maritime domain.
“Without any further stress, it is obvious that the said Ramalan is merely seeking an undue attention. And whatever that attention is, I make bold to say Ramalan, who claims to be the pioneer chairman of NIMASA, is not just economical with the truth but his outburst is an exhibition of ignorance and mischief, which should be ignored by all”.
Tompolo denied being on the Board of Global West, the company that purportedly got the contract for the protection of the nations’s maritime domain and also said to be owned by the ex-militant.
“Ramalan’s contraption of any sum being paid to me is therefore rubbish, malicious, unsubstantiated and display of ignorance. I can only pity such a man whose intention is perhaps to rubbish my name and needlessly drag me into the fray of disputes at a time the new government of President Muhammadu Buhari is barely one week in office”, he added.
Calling on President Buhari to ignore the allegations against him, Tompolo, added that the intention of Ramalan is to generally misled and probably position himself for a comeback to NIMASA.