Life at TomPollo’s Camp 5

The weather was heavy with cloud. The rain had just brought Warri to her knees. Flood was everywhere. The vehicle meandered through the city anyway, until we arrived at a beach, off Okerenkoko, a community usually contested by the Ijaw and Itsekiri. We saw couples of drenched women prattling.

Some seafarers were either leaving the shore or just arriving from a distance to anchor their boats at the bait. High up, lightening was booming. We sat quietly in the boat, looking like wet chickens.

‘Na Bayelsa we for take but he too far from there. Warri dey beter, and because of those crocodiles, we no go tay sha.’ He was fat and had the posture of a small bulldozer but his voice was feminine. His chest looked like a barrel.

If converted to a drum, it would take not less than 200 litres of petrol. The other guide was slim, firm and had the look of a trained cop. I was afraid of the unknown journey ahead but I hid my panic.

It was safer for the two guides to imagine that my shivering had to do with the cold, than the fear of being cramped in a small boat on the high sea for close to three hours -and without any swimming skills.

When the boat roared into the vast ocean, naturally anyone, even the atheist, would first think of God.

Amazed

TomPollo’s military camp amazed me. His major military outlet, Camp 5 was located several nautical miles from Warri, the economic hub of Delta State and over 150 miles from Bayelsa, the Ijaw’s significantly homogenous homestead.

The military camp is in the midst of thick, evergreen tropical forest - a delight of any guerrilla movement. About 100 fighters lived permanently there, many of them young, strong in muscles and fierce in outlook.

The tents in the camps were covered with green tarpaulins that could take a maximum of 10 fighters. One of the trainers said the camps were covered with green to prevent a possible identification from spy planes or Nigerian intelligence, probably using remote sensing technology.

The mainly young people, the fighters, are divided into smaller platoons led by a commander, usually the smartest and bravest, whose qualities are said to be figured through the training exercises. Recruiting a new fighter is usually conducted by a fighter already in the camp.

The godfather himself is a lover of AK47. He had one dedicated to himself. TomPollo’s rest place is no different from the others. His small tent is located right in the middle of the camp but he sometimes mingles and sleeps with others. He prays with them too.

A spartan life at Camp 5 was ruled by the highest form of discipline. No smoking (no cigarette, no ganja), no woman and no alcohol. TomPollo himself does not take alcohol. He is spartan and highly spiritual. Most of the time, he goes fasting, sometimes for several days without food or water.

Camp 5 dwellers are divided into different forms and content: infantry, artillery and artisans who carry out repairs on weapons; or on canoes and boats.

Cooking is by rotation, but those who show exceptional skills are allowed to control and manipulate the kitchen.

There is a high sense of hygiene among residents. Faeces are wrapped and deposited in far away distance. The environment is clean and green-friendly.

The rebels have ammunition depots, spread across the many tributaries and islands that dot the Delta. Only light weapons are kept with the militants.

Others, like general multipurpose guns, and rocket-propelled grenades were kept away from the prying eyes of visitors.

There is a small library, the size of a room, stocked with Nigerian newspapers, and some copies of the ‘Art of War’ authored by the famous Chinese war scientist, Sun Tzu. Pictures of the late Ijaw leader and revolutionary, Adaka Boro adorned the camps.

At the camp, the day begins as early as 5am, when fighters gather on a preserved green lurch to pray. After the prayer session, the fighters embark on physical exercises.

This is followed by lectures, mostly on military tactics. Sometimes foreign experts are invited as resource persons.

TomPollo has an effective communication network with which he communicates with other fighters and inhabitants of smaller martial camps. His deputy did the talking most of the time. He said TomPollo was the head of the Ijaw struggle for emancipation.

His other assistant has a Masters Degree from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. His real name is Government Ekpomupolo. He will be 40 this year.

TomPollo has a vast business empire. He has a house in South Africa, where many of the current Niger-Delta governors passed the night whenever they visited. He was a consultant to Chevron, which sustained the relationship with him, owing to his integrity, honesty and charm. He was also a consultant to Shell Petroleum.

Fresh prince of Okerenkoko, Ekpomupolo, was born in the riverine community of Okerenkoko, located in the southwest of Warri.

He attended Okepopo Primary School, located in the Itsekiri heartland, where he learnt to speak Itsekiri fluently.

He, however, prefers to always stick to the western Ijaw dialect. He later gained admission to Comprehensive College in Warri. He left the school in 1993. One of his classmates had this to say: “he is very kind hearted. He is level headed. He is quiet and has a lot of charm.”

TomPollo himself needs not confirm those attributes; they are evident in him. His classmate in Warri told our correspondent: “While we were in school, he was very bold, diligent and always the one to preside over disputes between two people because his peers trusted his fair sense of judgement, which earned him the name Government.

TomPollo was said to have been moved by the environmental problems in his community which drew him into the struggle for Ijaw liberation. He lost his father in 2000. Not too long ago, he was honoured by his community with a chieftaincy title.

He belongs to the royal home of Okerenkoko. Top government officials have been visiting TomPollo in the past two years. The government was said to have made some overtures to him, including the post of a minister of state, which he rejected.

His deputy commandant said the vice-president, Goodluck Jonathan had visited Camp 5 on two occasions; while a woman, said to be President Umaru Yar’Adua’s sister, paid TomPollo a visit in 2008, appealing to him to “give her brother a chance to rule Nigeria peacefully. “They come here all the time to plead that we should allow them to rule this country, but they really want to milk us dry.

“We will not allow them,” the deputy said. As the government continues to pound Ijaw communities, it is uncertain where Tom Pollo will be by now, but definitely no longer in Camp 5, once his safest haven long fallen to the military.

Lost innocence

Under-age children made to pick up live ammunition

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