By Emma Amaize

WARRI—THE Warri-Ijaw Peace Monitoring Group, WIPMG, Warri in Delta State, yesterday, said, following the  antecedents of former militant leader, Victor Ben, alias Boyloaf, it was not surprised that he said in a reent interview,  that Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, was not the leader of the defunct Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger-Delta, MEND.

Coordinator of WIPMG, Chief Patrick Bigha, who was a top operative of  MEND told Vanguard, yesterday, that Boyloaf was suspended at a time during the struggle by Tompolo for indiscipline, after which, he (Boyloaf) was ‘ set up’  by Henry Okah to perform some jobs, and so, his outburst was not out of the blue.

Bigha said Tompolo was the leader of MEND and the headquarters of the organisation was in his former Camp 5 in Delta State, adding that Boyloaf was brought to Camp 5 by an ex-militant leader, Farrah Dagogo

Throwing more light on Tompolo’s leadership of MEND, and how things went awry with him, Henry and Boyloaf, he said, “Embattled Henry Okah used to visit Tompolo in Camp 5. Today, almost everyone now knows that Henry Okah was an arms dealer, who used to sell arms to whomever desire to buy from him. He used to operate from South Africa under cover, hence he was asked by Tompolo to send MEND e-mails to the press.”

Bigha said, “Boyloaf committed some offences while in Camp5. He was actually brought to Tompolo by a defunct MEND commander, Farah Dagogo, who was working with the leader of the Niger-Delta Peoples Volunteer Front, NDPVF, Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo -Asari before his arrest and detention in 2005.

“Farah is in a better position to tell the story of MEND and not Boyloaf. Boyloaf was not a fighter until he came to Camp5. He was brought to Camp5 because of his knowledge of the Niger Delta coastal areas because he was working in tugboats. And so, operations were taken from Camp 5 to Rivers and Bayelsa States”, he stated.

According to him, “Tompolo at a point in the struggle, appointed commanders all over the Niger Delta, having set up camps in Rivers, Bayelsa, Ondo and Edo states with a central command in Camp5.

“Boyloaf was not appointed a commander by Tompolo. However, Farah Dagogo, Shoot at Sight, Joshua Macaivah and others were appointed commanders that very day,” he added.

Posted by admin on Jul 16 2012. Filed under Headlines, Niger Delta. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry