Factional president of IYC, Comrade Eric Omare, made the plea in a statement made available to journalists on Wednesday in Warri, Delta State.
Omare, while congratulating Tompolo on his 47th birthday on coming up Thursday, said the fugitive has made “indelible mark in the struggle for the betterment of the Niger Delta region at the risk of his life and family.”
“Tompolo is a true hero in the class of late Major Jasper Adaka Boro, Harold Dappa-Biriye, Ken Saro Wiwa and other Niger Delta heroes who gave everything towards the emancipation of the people of the Niger Delta region,” he added.
Omare, who lauded the FG for the commencement of academic works at the Nigerian Maritime University (NMU), Okerenkoko, called on Buhari and Timipre Silva, who’s the leader of the Governing Council, to swiftly remobilise contractors who were already working at the permanent site of the university to return.
The IYC factional leader decried “the lukewarm attitude of the Federal Government towards the handling of the demands of the Niger Delta people.”
Omare mentioned instances to include refusal of oil multinationals to relocate their headquarters to the region, the deliberate non-funding of the East-West Road and the call for federalism and resource control.
“The IYC urges that the charges against Chief Government Ekpemupolo by the Federal Government in relation to the sale of the temporary site of the Maritime University should be dropped.
“It amounts to great injustice for the federal government to be using the former Mekadive Diving School, Kurutie, Delta State which NIMASA acquired from Chief Ekpemupolo as kick-off campus of the Maritime University and at the same time trying Chief Ekpemupolo in court for the sale of the same property,” Omare opined.
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