Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, a former militant leader, has stationed numerous gunboats in Niger Delta creeks to hunt out pipeline vandals, illegal refiners, and unauthorized oil installations.
The Federal Government and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited recently awarded the former Movement for Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) commander an N4.5 billion monthly surveillance contract to secure oil installations and pipelines in Delta and some areas of Bayelsa and Rivers states.
Despite the controversy surrounding the deal, Tompolo, it was learned, has finished his preparations and started his business.
According to a source, the Navy, Army, and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) personnel were aboard dozens of speedboats and gunboats for their first operation on Monday.
He said that more than 1000 young people participated in the combined operation and went on the first assignment in the creeks with the armed operators.
He said that the young people involved in the operation were chosen from host communities in the contract’s service areas.
