Credit: CKN Nigeria
A Lagos-based lawyer, Festus Keyamo, has petitioned the Inspector-General of Police and the Director-General of the State Security Services over an alleged threat to his life by one Mr. Government Ekpemupolo, popularly known as Tompolo.
In the petition dated October 29, 2013, and entitled, “Threat to kill Mr. Festus Keyamo by Mr. Government Ekpemupolo (alias Tompolo),” a copy of which was sent to The PUNCH on Wednesday, Keyamo alleged that Tompolo had threatened that “his boys will kill me by beating me to death or shooting me anywhere they can find me.”
According to Keyamo in the petition, Tompolo allegedly threatened to kill him because he had decided to take up a case involving Tompolo’s brother, Mr. George Ekpemupolo.
Keyamo claimed that Tompolo’s brother was “illegally substituted for another candidate, Mr. Weyinmi Omadeli, 48 hours to the Warri South-West Local Government Area elections that were concluded last Saturday in Delta State.”
Keyamo said, “At exactly 10:13pm on Tuesday, October 28, 2014; I received a telephone call from one Mr. Government Ekpemupolo (alias Tompolo) with one phone number. We have been acquaintances in the past, so I know his numbers. After reaffirming that he is Tompolo when I picked his call, he went straight to the point by informing me that he wishes to inform me that he and his “boys” will kill me by beating me to death or shooting me anywhere they can find me.
“He said that the hunt for me is on. His exact words in pidgin English was ‘we dey look for you. Anywhere we see you, whether for Lagos or Abuja or Warri, we go beat you die or we go shoot you.”
According to Keyamo, Tompolo had told him that no one had ever challenged his authority in Delta State.
He said, “I asked Tompolo five times whether he was, in fact, threatening my life over an open line and he said nobody in the country could do anything about it by the time I am dead.”
Keyamo said three minutes after Tompolo ended the call, the Delta State Governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan, called him and that he reported Tompolo’s alleged threat to him.
He said, “The governor promised to speak with him, but that cannot be enough, and I know the remedy in law against an intended murderer is not to beg him but to ignite the criminal justice system against him, no matter how comatose that system is.
“I know the subject of this petition, Tompolo, is a favoured citizen of this government, and I am not. I know Tompolo is close to those in power at the moment, whereas I am an ordinary citizen. I know Tompolo has money and influence (which are factors that are widely acknowledged to aid a suspect walk away with murder in Nigeria), but I have none of these. I know Tompolo has instrument to kill human beings, and I have none.
“I am making the petition public so that when the police refuse to attend to my complaint and outcry, the ordinary people of this country will, at least, know from where my death came and I will not join the long list of unresolved murders. My killer, should, at least be known.”
The Police could not be reached for comment on whether it had commenced investigations into the allegation raised by Keyamo in his petition.
The Force Public Relations Officer, Emmanuel Ojukwu, did not respond to several calls to his phone. Also, a text message sent to him did not elicit any response as of the time of filing this report.
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