CSOs Warn On Dangers Of Using Armed Militants To Protect Oil Pipelines

Key civil society groups in the country have repudiated the continuous deployment of militant elements to provide security to critical oil and gas pipelines in Niger Delta.

They have therefore called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to put a stop to the tradition of using armed militants to protect critical energy infrastructure. The idea they argued may promote another round of armed conflict and violence in the oil rich region, the human rights coalition warned on Wednesday.

The group urged Tinubu to be cautious in engaging Niger Delta militants in pipeline protection in the Niger Delta saying that they constitute a major threat to the stability of Nigeria.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Civil Society Coalition for Mandate Protection, (CSC-MAP) , a coalition of 95 civil society groups spread across Nigeria and the National Coalition of Civil Society Groups, (NCCSG) in a joint statement said there are widespread fear that a particular militant in the Niger Delta is using proceeds of pipeline protection to import illicit weapons into the country.

President Tinubu was urged to focus on indigenous professional security companies in the Niger-Delta who are genuinely committed to the protection of oil pipelines instead of funding armed groups that constitute a threat to National Security.

The CSC-MAP said the militants had the preconceived plan to divide Nigeria through armed conflict that would start from the Niger-Delta.

“It is not right to fund an armed and separatist group that has fought Nigeria and other ethnic groups in the Niger Delta. The leaders of the armed groups were once declared wanted by the Nigerian State. It is wrong to continue to provide resources for them which might empower them to import illicit weapons into Nigeria,” the coalition said.

The group alleged that a particular militant is currently involved in high calibre bribery of top government officials including some members of the National Assembly in order to perpetrate himself and sustain his armed dominion in the Niger-Delta.

The group said it is preparing a letter to the President and to all members of the National Assembly to expose the militant’s crime against Nigerians and the people of the Niger Delta and regretted that a particular militant continues to enjoy the protection of a few armed soldiers with a full truck load of soldiers.

The coalition also called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) to revisit the trial of Mr Government Ekpemokpolo,alias Tomopolo.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) has been asked to recall the investigation of Chief Government Ekpomokpolo (alias Tompolo) in 2016 for various crimes ranging from corruption to terrorism.

The coalition recalled that in February 2026, the EFCC had declared Government Ekpemupolo wanted following two bench warrants issued by the Federal High Court in Lagos.

He was charged with N45.9 billion fraud and the EFCC had announced to the whole world that he committed offences of conspiracy, illegal diversion of the sum of N34.0 billion and another N11.9 billion belonging to the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety, (NIMASA).

The group recalled that Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court in Lagos had issued a bench warrant against Tompolo on January 14, 2016 after he neglected a dated January 12 summons issued to him by the Judge.

The offences committed by Tompolo are contrary to Section 18 (a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) (Amendment) Act 2012 and were liable to punishment under Section 15 (3) of the same Act.

The coalition said in the statement that the ‘The EFCC should save the country from a crime ring led by Mr Tompolo. While he claims to be protecting oil pipelines, he has been linked to a series of heinous crimes being perpetrated by his criminal gang which includes money laundering and proliferation of arms’ the group said, citing the recent killings of 16 soldiers, including a Lt.Colonel in Okuoma.

The group said: ‘Tomopolo is a leopard that will never change his colour. The federal government cannot be held to ransom by a single individual who on many occasions has made it clear that all he wanted was to break up Nigeria. We call on the federal government to launch intensive investigations to the activities of Tompolo in the Niger-Delta to save the region and the country at large from large scale violence that his group has been planning to unleash on the country any moment from now.’

The group said, instead of engaging Tompolo, the gederal government should engage genuine representatives of the people of the Niger Delta whose lives have on several occasions been threatened and endangered by Tompolo and his armed groups.