Army releases associates of ex-militant leader

Bebenimibo, while narrating his ordeal, said his cousin boasted that he was going to deal with him.

He said “My arrest was a setup and I am saying this categorically because when I was arrested, members of my immediate and extended family confronted the person having being aware of earlier threat messages he sent to me.

“When accosted, he boasted to them that I am going to rot in detention as far as the APC government, which he is a member is in power for having the effrontery to boast with him.”

Vanguard reports that he also said “Actually, I know nothing about the Niger Delta Avengers. I am a politician, a onetime councilor representing Gbaramatu ward, Okerenkoko, one- time SA on Security to Governor Timipre Sylva and presently, Member, Delta State Waterways and Lands Security Committee.

“Before I was arrested, I was receiving threat messages on my phone from one of my younger cousins, that I am part of the Niger Delta Avengers and that he is going to arrest me. “I told him that if you are the one that is going to arrest me, I would be very proud because I would know where my problems are coming from, but though I never believed he was go to go through with his plan.”

He also said he was whisked away from his house in the mid-night of July 18, 2016.

Tompolo had earlier written to President Buhari calling for the release of some of his kinsmen in the custody of the military task force.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has called on the Federal Government to suspend the ongoing fraud trial of ex-militant leader, Tompolo.