7th September, 2016
Gbaramatu Voice reports that Tompolo’s father High Chief Thomas Osen Ekpemupolo, the Tunteriwei of Gbaramatu kingdom died today, September 7.
According to Premium Times, the Ekpemupolo family would issue a statement shortly over their patriarch’s demise.
A source told the newspaper that Tompolo’s father died early in the morning at Lily Clinic, Deco road, Warri in Warri South local government area of Delta State.
Chief Ekpemupolo, aged 84, was reportedly assaulted by the Nigerian army during the May 28 siege on Gbaramatu Kingdom.
Later, on July 22, Tompolo in a strong worded open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari raised the alarm that the army invasion of the Kingdom had led to the brutalization of his old father by the army which led to the amputation of the lower limb of his father.
The former militant expressed the concern over the survival of his father due to the supposed severe army torture meted out on his aged father.
The letter stated in part: “That same day, the military went to Kurutie Town in search of my 84 years old father and brutalized him. We managed to rescue him to Warri and hospitalized him. Sadly, one of his lower limbs was amputated two weeks ago. From the doctor’s report, it will be a thing of miracle if he survives this incident. Is this 84 years old man also a member of the Niger Delta Avengers, that he was brutalised to the point of death?”