He joined up with Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo Asari leader of the Niger Delta Volunteer Force in Rivers State who was supporting his western Ijaw brothers and sisters against their Itsekiri neighbours and their rival Ateke Tom’s Niger Delta Vigilante Services/Icelander Confraternity...
These include High Chief Government Ekpemupolo (aka Tompolo) Ateke Tom Prince Farah Ipalibo (Dagogo Farah) and Victor Ben Ebikabowei (Boyloaf)(AC Vol 51 No 21)...
His supporters include ex-militant chieftains notably the firebrand AlhajiMujahid Dokubo Asari whose fight with his underworld rival Ateke Tom in 2004 brought the entire Niger Delta to the brink of all-out war...
MEND brings loosely together the Ijaw Youth Congress fighters of this period remnants of Mujahid Dokubo-Asari’s Federated Niger Delta Ijaw Communities and the Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force with smaller criminal gangs and armed groups such as Ateke Tom’s Niger Delta Vigilantes (AC Vol 45 No 18)...
Soboma George: Formerly Ateke Tom’s second-in-command George went independent...
Ateke Tom: He promised Jonathan he would renounce violence in October 2009...
MEND's top leaders are Government Tompolo in Delta State the most powerful commander in the Delta and Farah Dagogo who leads operations in Rivers State in coordination with veterans Ateke Tom Soboma George and Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari...
Ateke Tom widely seen as psychotic is wanted for bombing two police stations during the 2007 elections and he has quarrelled with Okah over payments for arms...
President Yar'Adua might make more progress with some of the militant leaders in the eastern Delta: notably Soboma George and Ateke Tom who have been offered amnesty...
Delta historians draw parallels between this amnesty and a similar deal with gang leaders Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo Asari and Ateke Tom in 2004...
Ateke Tom will accept amnesty if the price is right and Tompolo is unlikely to cut a national deal and may further increase his local following...
They repeat a pattern established when the gang leaders Mujahid Dokubo-Asari and Ateke Tom were fighting it out across the Delta in 2003-05 (AC Vol 48 No 23)...
The two most active gang leaders linked to MEND in the Eastern Delta are Ateke Tom and Soboma George...
Vol 48 No 23 |
- NIGERIA
- ANALYSIS
Soon after the 2003 elections different factions of the PDP set Asari and Ateke Tom another east Delta leader from Rivers State against each other...
Ateke Tom: Ijaw militia leader; operations have been financed by ruling party politicians but he hasn't openly joined the political scramble...
Returning home after the talks Asari and Ateke Tom his rival for political patronage and control of 'bunkering' (theft) operations from the network of rusted pipes criss-crossing the Delta declared fraternal love...