Omon-Julius Onabu
2 August 2008
Warri — Commander of the military Joint Task Force (JTF) in the Niger-Delta, Brig-Gen. Naven Rimtip, yesterday said his command averted an attempt by militants two days ago to launch another attack on Nigeria 's important offshore Bonga Oil-field, which suffered the most embarrassing militant attack barely a month ago.
Rimtip made this disclosure while fielding questions from newsmen at the JTF headquarters in Warri, after a closed-door session with four visiting members of the House of Representatives.
As soon as intelligence was received on the planned militant attack on Bonga two days ago, a naval vessel was deployed in Bonga within six hours, he disclosed, daring the militants to attack the offshore facility again.
He also said the JTF, a.k.a. Operation Restore Hope, has so far uncovered and destroyed 110 illegal local refineries in Delta State.
He said members of the JTF, during operations in Burutu and Bomadi local government areas of Delta State, carried out the destruction of the illegal refineries.
"We destroyed about 111 local refineries, and we are going to destroy more", the Commander said, adding, "these illegal refineries are in almost every village in Bomadi and Burutu local government areas."
He explained that the seeming invasion or heavy security presence in Tuomo, Burutu Local Government Area was due to the "concentration of illegal refineries in Tuomo."
Rimtip said the exercise was ongoing and meant not only to checkmate the production and marketing of illegal and substandard petroleum products in the Niger-Delta but also to deal deadly blow on illegal bunkering in the region; since the improvised refineries have been encouraging the stealing of the country's crude oil.
The JTF spokesman, Major Omale Ochagwuba, further revealed that the command had seized from oil thieves, products estimated at over N6.0179 billion.
THISDAY learnt that the JTF Commander briefed the House Committee members on the reasons why the June 19 attack, which the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger-Delta (MEND) had claimed it carried out, was so devastatingly successful.
He admitted that the militants tended to have more information on the activities and operational mode of the JTF than the security operatives had about the militant groups.
Rimtip also noted that the militants were apparently "very much at home" in the creeks and even the high seas, having long lived and worked (fishing and sailing) in the environment and obviously understood the mood of the sea.
He however underscored the point that the JTF would not allow itself to be caught unawares in future, lamenting that attack on the Bonga oil-field was only possible because the two frigates assigned to surveillance in the area "were undergoing minor repairs in Warri at the time of the attack."
"We need real-time intelligence, for us to cope well with the task", Rimtip stressed, saying the successes so far recorded would not be possible but for the quality of the intelligence the JTF has managed to obtain from time to time.
He said JTF ships and gunboats were in no way inferior to those of the militants, stressing that the security vessels though slower than speed boats have superior armaments and fire-power.
The June 19, 2008 attack on Bonga by militants drastically affected Nigeria's crude export capacity, as the Anglo-Dutch oil giant and major operator of the Bonga oil-field, Shell was forced to shut in 200,000 barrels of crude per day.
Meanwhile, Lt-Col Rabe Abubakar has been appointed as Co-ordinator of the new Joint Media Campaign on Operation Restore Hope, which is meant to carry out a robust publicity on the objectives and activities of the special security task force in the Niger-Delta.
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