Nigerian Navy has said that the alleged gunboats recently acquired by ex-militant, Chief Government Ekpemupolo, aka Tompolo actually belong to the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency.
Rear Admiral Austin Oyagha, Chief of Training and Operations of the Nigerian Navy made this statement during a press briefing. He said the media reports that Tompolo acquired warships were false.
He said “I want to state categorically that no individual has acquired gun boats in this country. The gunboats being alluded to actually belong to NIMASA and these boats are currently being manned by personnel of the Nigerian Navy and as you are all aware.
“Nigerian Navy has collaboration with NIMASA, to which we have a maritime component attached in support of the statutory responsibility in ensuring the safety of our harbour approaches to our anchorage.”
“I don’t want to believe there is any gunboat or any vessel with the name Tompolo being written on it that is operating in our waters and if there is such a boat I will like you to prove it.
“The boats that are being alluded to that are called gunboats, that we know are operating in our waters that do not actually belong to the NN but belong to NIMASA and those boats are being manned by the NN personnel attached to the maritime component of the service.”
He also added that “The collaboration we have with NIMASA is such that NIMASA can acquire boats but they cannot acquire the weapons. When they acquire these boats, it is the Navy that manned them and it is for the Navy to arm these boats accordingly and I can assure you that those weapons on board those boats belong to the NN and they are being manned by the personnel of the Navy.”