Tompolo's Yesterday as a Wanted Man in Camp Five

By: Enewaridideke Ekanpou

He stood like a rock, telling the deprivation story of his own people.
Government forces wanted him dead.
He was declared the wanted man in Camp Five.
Before the oil companies and the government he was a quarry to be hunted down.

They termed Tompolo a militant when we know he is a freedom activist.
You colluded with the government to hunt him down like a quarry;
Masked or clothed in python uniform, you invaded his camp and communities.

The man you sought was  like the air; Tompolo was everywhere and nowhere to be found in bodily form.
Under the shield of Egbesu, he was always invisible before your mortal eyes.
Because Tompolo was invisible, you mortally maimed his own father in transferred aggression.
Mortally maimed, Tompolo's father sailed to his lonely grave like a wounded ship.

Only you knocked your chest and said you would not rest until Tompolo was hunted down.
Even when the government rested, you were at the doorstep singing songs for the government to be restless in the search for Tompolo.

Tantita is here today.
You were the first to embrace the nectar of Tantita;
You were even the first to embrace Amnesty when it came through Tompolo's manumission struggle.
In every gathering you now openly claim to be more militant than the Tompolo you once termed a militant.
You are now everywhere enjoying the nectar of Tantita.
You have forgotten all the atrocities you committed against Tompolo.
If he had died as you once wished, would you have enjoyed  Tantita today?
You are a man without conscience.
You should be the pangolin whose responsive coiling announces its conscience and shame  when caught.
Sadly, you are the fowl.

I know everyone of you who wanted Tompolo dead yesterday.
You are parading everywhere today like his true believers;
You are all fake believers singing traitorous songs of loyalty to enjoy the nectar of Tantita.
Only God and Egbesu know the true believers of Tompolo.
Like dog to its vomit, you will repeat your traitorous dance if the music changes its beat tomorrow.

Tompolo is a man of forgiveness and peace;
He must have journeyed away like a canoe man driven by a supportive tide.
Yet, Egbesu knows your atrocities;
God knows your atrocities...

The world and the walls remember your atrocities.
Your atrocities against Tompolo remain tapestried in the Akashic Record;
For you karma stands waiting  even if Tompolo has embraced you with open hands and heart.

Tompolo was the only wanted man in Camp Five yesterday;
Tompolo was the only man you wanted dead yesterday  through your collusion;
Tompolo is today the wanted man in the doorstep of every Nigerian, waging a fierce war against pipeline vandalism and oil theft.
Don't you feel embarrassed by the atrocities you heartlessly committed against Tompolo yesterday?

Dr. Ekanpou writes from Akparemogbene, Delta State