Samuel Oyadongha
28 August 2008
Bayelsa State chapter of the Civil Liberty Society (CLO) wants the Federal Government to set up a panel to investigate the circumstances that led to the killing of three persons among them a pregnant lady in the Southern Ijaw waterways of the state by men of the Joint Task Force (JTF).
The deceased persons, all from Furopa community on the Atlantic fringe were travelling to Lobia when they came under military attack from men of the Joint Task Force who mistook them for militants.
The group noted that the action of the military has again reinforced the call for their withdrawal from the region.
Describing the incident as unfortunate and a great loss the families of the deceased persons the group warned that unless urgent steps are taken to check the excesses of the military men the continuous killing of innocent and defenceless people could be justified as a deliberate systematic genocide being unleashed on the Ijaws by the nation security forces under the guise of combating militancy in the troubled Niger Delta.
In an interview with Vanguard in Yenagoa, the chairman of the state chapter of CLO, Comrade Vincent Epatamo, noted with sadness that until such erring officers are brought to book other overzealous military personnel will continue with this type of atrocities and get away with their crime.
Lamenting the situation in the creek, which he described as unsafe for boat drivers and travellers the CLO boss recalled how they were almost killed by soldiers who according to him, are in the habit of harassing riverine travellers boosting that nothing will happen even if they are killed.
"Some of the security personnel have constituted themselves to security risk to the law abiding citizens of the area. I don't know why the JTF is interested in killing innocent and law abiding citizens in the Niger Delta claiming they are militants. This brings to the fore the glaring human rights abuses being unleashed on the region by soldiers being kitted with the tax payers' money.
"The recovery of the decomposing bodies of the three slain persons is coming as a rude shock to us especially when viewed against the backdrop of the repeated denial by the military authorities that no shooting took place in the area.
"What about the contradictory claim from the security forces that two occupants of the passenger boat escaped into the mangrove while the remaining two escaped with the boat on confronting the JTF on that fateful day,"
According to him, trained soldiers deployed for military operations will not come and tell the world after killing defenceless civilians that they are militants.
"What is the use of binocular which is readily available to soldiers during military operations? Are the soldiers saying they could not ascertain if the approaching boat was a friendly boat or enemy boat?
What happened is nothing but sheer madness.
This not a war but they are sent on peace keeping mission, what are they restoring if they are killing innocent civilians and further aggravating the crisis in the region.
"The soldiers involved in this dastardly act should be fished out and made to face the law and we will not allow the matter to be swept under the carpet as the right of the people must be protected."
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