He rarely shows his face, yet his shadow hangs heavy over Nigeria's oil-rich south. Government Ekpemupolo, aka Tompolo, almost never leaves Delta state. The feared – or respected – fifty-something no longer ventures beyond his Gbaramatu kingdom, which is surrounded by the polluted waters of the Benin River and the Atlantic Ocean.
Tompolo has little desire to hobnob with the political and business elites in Abuja and Lagos, where those who fear him still have to use his services – at least for now.
