SIX months after the August, 2008 invasion of Agge community in Bayelsa State by the Joint Task Force (JTF) on the Niger-Delta, which said it was hunting for militants that attacked some soldiers in a military location in Delta State and vamoosed with their weapons, the people are yet to recover from the shock and devastation that was visited on them.

Though, the JTF said it did not destroy houses as claimed by the people, the traditional ruler of Agge Federated Communities, His Royal Highness, D.G. Isiayei, the Itorugidi of Kou Kingdom and the Amadiwei of Agge told Saturday Vanguard in Warri that the task force was standing the truth on the head, as the entire community was razed down and the people deprived of their means of their livelihood by the soldiers who burnt down their fishing equipment.

HRH Isiayei , who was also a victim of the military rampage said, "My own house was burnt. My people are suffering, they cannot eat, I have 162 grand children and there is problem of feeding up till today because of the JTF attack on us. The houses burnt have not been re-built and my people are living like animals".

"We shared the zincs that were brought as relief materials to them and in some cases, up to five to 10 persons are living under one hut because they have no money buy enough zinc to replace their burnt zincs", he explained.

The royal father said hid people were dying of hunger and appealed to the government to come to their rescue by way of providing them with fishing materials to commence their normal means of livelihood and rebuilding the burnt community.

Spokesman of the community, Mr. Stanley Braboke also told Saturday Vanguard, "The people of Agge are passing through pains in the area of life sustenance and shelter. If you go there, you will see that up five to 10 persons are living in one room because there is no shelter for them, the JTF burnt all our houses".

"Majority of the people are fishermen and since all the fishing materials were burnt by the JTF during the invasion, they have no means of livelihood. Life is difficult for my people. Even a church building, which is a temporary structure for our secondary school was also burnt down", he lamented.

Prince Premer Isiaye who corroborated Braboke's claim said, "Agge is presently in darkness, as the JTF also burnt the generators which some few privileged ones used to power their homes and nobody knows the offence the people committee to warrant such an attack".

He said that up till the time of the interview, he was still borrowing clothes to wear, as his own were all burnt by the soldiers during the siege.

"Why should I be treated like this? This is the question I have been asking since the invasion, if they say they are looking for militants, am I a militant to be treated like this, they destroyed my home and now, I am homeless", Prince Isiaye said

Samson Torupuda who narrated his experience on the day the JTF struck in the community said he was about carrying some passengers in his boat when the army arrived and started shooting at people and damaged his boat in the process.

In the words of Braboke, "The Agge people are living in fear because they don't know when the JTF will wake up again and pounce on them for no just cause".

Coordinator of the Joint Media Campaign Centre (JMCC) of the task force, Colonel Rabe Abubakar maintained in an interview with Saturday Vanguard that the troops that went to Agge did not burn down the community as alleged, saying that they went there in search of militants.

HRH Isiayei denied categorically that they were militants from the community, saying, "What we have are youths, who sometimes, make demands and insist that they should be addressed, which is normal in present -day society".

How can HRH say there is no militant group in Agge when some leaders in the community recently wrote to the security agencies in the state, alleging that a militant group was on rampage in the community and was practically dictating the running of affairs in Agge and the criminals also hijacked relief materials sent to the community by the government.

The royal father stood his grounds, saying he was not part of those that authored the letter and if his signature was in the purported letter, then, it must have been a forgery.

Mr. Braboke told Saturday Vanguard that the recent media report that the community had been taken over by terrorists was not true and that it was based on such false alarm by some persons who have personal scores to settle with some people in the community that the JTF invaded the community.

According to him, "We have heard that there is a petition to the security agencies, but, you can see our traditional ruler, he has told you that he did not sign any letter and did not authorize any such letter.

The statement that the community has been taken over by terrorists is not true and it is also not true that militants are running a parallel government in Agge".

On the allegation that militants sponsored the present members of the executive committee of the community, he said it was a free and fair election, which the royal father confirmed. The monarch said those feeding the security agents with false information about Agge should be interrogated, adding that his people were not the devil they were being painted.

He also dismissed the allegation that relief materials sent to the community were hijacked by anybody in Agge, saying the items that were sent, which were not diverted on the way, were all distributed to the people, including bags of rice and zincs. He said the committee that shared the rice sent some bags of rice to him.

Braboke added that there was nobody in the community complaining about the sharing of relief materials that got to Agge, as everything was transparently shared and thanked the Bayelsa State Government, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC) for its assistance.

Braboke said those saying that the Agge Vigilante Group metamorphosed into a militant group were just fabricating stories because there is no such group in the community that his brandishing guns.

He also said there was no truth in the allegation that a militant group in Agge seized speed boats belonging to the community.

On what the people want from the government, he said, "We thank them for the assistance they have rendered us so far, but, we want them to re-build our community, which was destroyed by the JTF and rehabilitate the people economically because they have been deprived of their means of their livelihood.

He said that over 80 per cent of the people fled the community as a result of the invasion but they were gradually returning back. Braboke also challenged the JTF, which has a location not too far from Agge to carry out undercover investigations to find out if the people of Agge are militants, as some persons have insinuate