Last week, armed youths took over the streets of Warri South West Local Government Area in Delta State and blew up strategic oil pipelines in reaction to recent court order calling for the arrest of former Niger Delta militant leader Government Ekpemupolo popularly known as Tompolo. He had been invited by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to answer charges relating to supply contracts he was awarded by the Goodluck Jonathan administration.
Tompolo, who is also a Gbaramatu traditional titleholder in Ijawland, was a major beneficiary under the Goodluck regime, protecting Nigeria's coastline, pipelines and being a major contractor. However, he shunned the EFCC invitation, calling it political vendetta for him refusing to join the ruling All Progressives Congress, leading to a warrant being issued for his arrest.
However, following last bombing Vice Admiral Ibas said that such attacks would be treated as a terrorist attack rather than mere pipeline vandalism. Describing the incidents as unfortunate, he added that the Nigerian Navy was not taking the sabotage lightly because the act was capable of undermining its recent push into sanitising the nation’s maritime sector.
Vice Admiral Ibas said: “The incident that just happened recently is rather unfortunate and of course that cannot be taken lightly by any serious nation and of course the Nigerian Navy is not going to take it lightly as well. We have made it clear that it goes beyond just mere vandalism for the purpose of making any gains, this is absolute sabotage, something that can even be termed terrorism.
“If the guys were doing that to derive benefit from the destruction then one will say it is vandalism but that is not the case. Over 163 suspects were arrested by the Nigerian Navy for various crimes and handed over for prosecution by relevant law enforcement agencies between January and December 2015."
He also advocated the establishment of special courts to address the menace of maritime crimes, adding that conventional courts had failed to arrest the situation. Emphasizing that in the past, many of the suspects arrested by the Nigerian Navy had oftentimes exploited lapses in the nation’s judicial system to evade prosecution, Vice Admiral Ibas said this needs to be taken into consideration going forward.
“Experience has shown that suspects explore lapses in our judicial system to evade prosecution. We believe that the establishment of a special court or tribunal that is mandated to address all the outstanding cases with respect to the seizures and arrests made by the Nigerian Navy will reduce the incidences of the illegality in the maritime sector," Vice Admiral Ibas added.
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