The Police on Saturday said they have
not executed the order to arrest former Niger Delta militant, Government
Ekpemupolo, aka Tompolo, because they had yet to be served the bench
warrant issued against him by the court.
The Force Public Relations Officer, Olabisi Kolawole, said the Police would move against Tompolo once they got the court order.
She said, “I understand that as of now, the Police have not received official order to arrest him.”
Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High
Court in Lagos had ordered the arrest of the ex-militant leader for his
failure to appear before him last Thursday to answer 30 counts of
alleged N34bn fraud.
The judge issued a bench warrant against
Tompolo and ordered that he must be produced in court on February 8,
2016, by all means to answer the charges.
The EFCC had charged Tompolo and a
former Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and
Safety Agency, Patrick Akpobolokemi, alongside eight others for alleged
N34bn fraud.
Meanwhile, the Joint Military Task Force
and the Police have commenced full-scale investigation into the havoc
perpetrated by suspected ex-militants, following the blowing up f a gas
pipeline in Warri-South-West Local Government Area of Delta State last
Thursday night.
Suspected ex-militants had blown up a
pipeline coveying gas from Escravos–Warri–Lagos–Abuja, a property of the
Nigeria Gas Company, which sparked fears of resumed hostilities in the
Niger-Delta region.
A security agent, who spoke on condition
of anonymity, said three persons suspected to have been involved in the
bombing had been arrested and were currently being kept in a safe
custody for further investigation.
The JTF officer said, “We have arrested
three persons (names withheld); we are keeping them in our custody, we
do not want to disclose their identity because investigation is ongoing.
We want to properly comb everywhere and be sure the evildoers are
brought to book.”
The state Commissioner of Police, Mr.
Alkali Baba Usman, said, “We are working hard with the view to bringing
to book the perpetrators of the last Thursday explosion. Some persons
are already helping in further investigation and we will ensure that the
evil doers will be brought to book.”
Punch
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