Daily Independent (Lagos)
Tunke-Aye Bisina, Emma Gbemudu and Harris-Okon Emmanuel
25 May 2009
Nine hostages were on Sunday rescued by the Joint Task Force (JTF) in Gbaramatu community, one of the main theatres of battle between troops and militants in Delta State, in addition to the three Filipinos freed in the area on Saturday.
The incursion has extended to Abonnema in Rivers State, where militant leader Nana Sele was shot dead. His cohorts fled with wounds after an exchange of gunfire.
Residents of Odi in neighbouring Bayelsa have also taken to their heels in fear of being overrun by soldiers.
Four of the hostages were rescued in Camp Five, two in Okerenkoko, and three in Oporoza.
JTF Spokesman, Colonel Rabe Abubakar, said the 'Cordon and Rescue Operation' would be intensified until all hostages - including military men and foreign nationals - are freed.
He added: "With the successes recorded so far in the course of this operation, the JTF wants to debunk the allegation that its troops are targeting some individuals, or certain ethnic groups.
"We conducted the operations in the most professional manner and the security outfit is only focusing on the areas where there are militants and their hideouts where hostages were being kept. It is not a random operation and people should commend us for what we have done so far.
"However, in the conduct of this national assignment some few members of the communities will be inconvenienced by our actions, but we did not do it deliberately. It is for the overall development of the communities in the long run and what we want to achieve for our children to benefit tomorrow.
"The JTF wants to use this opportunity to reiterate that as long as our men are not found, the operation will be ongoing. Therefore, we are soliciting for the co-operation of the public, especially those affected by this purge, to furnish us with information that will lead to the arrest of the miscreants who unleash terror on innocent members of the communities."
Abubakar denied the allegation that soldiers looted the palace of the traditional ruler of Gbaramatu.
"Such a statement is not true and holds no water as the JTF is in Gbaramatu to carry out an important security assignment. We are doing that, and we will continue to do it. Looting is against the ethics of the military anywhere in the world."
He described as "laughable" the propaganda by the defeated rag-tag army of Tompolo, "who is on the run," having "realised that the myth built around him by his co-travelers in criminalities has been deflated."
Abubakar urged investors to come to Delta as genuine peace has finally been achieved.
"Tompolo has no home again and will never have a home in the region, because he has been declared wanted and must be smoked out by our troops. Everything that has a beginning must have an end, this is the end of Tompolo."
But the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has vowed to deal more blows to the JTF and those it considers traitors in its own fold.
"Nobody should go home with his two eyes closed because the war has just begun," it warned.
A statement issued by MEND Spokesman, Jomo Gbomo, said the frustration suffered by the JTF will be aggravated as the next agenda unfolds in the coming days.
He accused Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of masterminding the "annihilation of the Ijaw race to foster the agenda of a particular set of people on the entire state."
Gbomo warned, however, that the plot will fail.
"If the Ijaw people are now viewed as antithetic to the development of the state and must be wiped out, after drawing the attention of the whole world to the plight of the region and ensuring that the region is gradually getting what is due it in the country, the state will become too hot for everybody to stay."
He dismissed as fraudulent claims by the JTF that it has captured arms from militants in the invaded communities.
In any case, soldiers launched another attack on Ayeibogbene in Delta on Sunday, and on Abonnema in Rivers, where Sele was killed.
Besides, one Kuku Olobio reportedly died on Saturday in Daubriye, bringing the number of deaths in this area of Delta to five.
Community leaders said the JTF at about 10.30 a.m. invaded Ayeibogbene, which is a few kilometres from a Chevron site in Abiteye.
Gbaramatu Spokesman, Godspower Gbenekama, narrated that 15 houses were torched in Ayeibogbene, but that no one died because the people had fled before the attack.
Gbenekama said the death toll in the Saturday attack on Daubriye and Benekurukuru had increased to five, including one Kuku Olobio.
A 90-year-old man, Ziten Jouwegha; a woman, Wekebo Mulade and her two children (a boy aged one and a girl aged three), also died. Fifteen houses were burnt.
The Federated Niger Delta Ijaw Communities (FNDIC) has appealed to the military authorities to "ceasefire and discontinue its war on the defenceless Gbaramatu Ijaw people and allow place for dialogue."
FNDIC President, Bello Oboko, insisted in a statement that "Gbaramatu is not a part and parcel of the declaration of war with the Nigerian nation/Army by (the MEND) which we asked to steer clear of Gbaramatu.
"We are happy at the reports of the release, without battle, the victims of war declared by (the JTF) in Gbaramatu in the Warri waterways.
"It is an indication that despite the continuous propaganda of the MEND which the JTF - as it advised the general public - should also ignore, the forces in the ongoing battle which the Gbaramatu Ijaw people are not willing to be part of, have withdrawn.
"With reports also that the JTF has dislodged militants, we are disturbed at the continued destruction of civil Ijaw communities thereby spreading deaths, discomfort, and hopelessness."
Abubakar of the JTF confirmed that "a cordon and search operation conducted by the troops of the Joint Task Force, Operation Restore Hope, at Oporoza community in Gbaramatu led to the rescue of three Filipinos who are presently undergoing medical treatment at an undisclosed JTF hospital. They are Enrico Arelano, Romeo Naclicar and Napoleon Emphasis.
"The security outfit, in continuation of its intensive search and rescue mission, has so far rescued a total of 17 foreigners, including Filipinos, Ukrainians and four Nigerians, who were held hostage by militants from Camp Five and other neighboring camps.
"It is pertinent to note that in all the communities searched by the JTF so far, large quantities of arms and ammunition, as well as hostages kidnapped by the militants, were discovered.
"Military hardware as well as four hostages, were also discovered in Camp Five, two from Okerenkoko while three were rescued from Oporoza.
"JTF troops carried out a dawn raid on suspected militants' hideout at Abonnema in Rivers State. After a fierce exchange of gunfire with the militants, one militant, Nana Sele, suspected to be their leader, was shot dead and others fled with gun shot wounds."
Odi indigenes in Bayelsa are deserting town in droves because of the fear of invasion by troops in search of a militant leader said to be hiding in the area.
They are relocating to adjoining villages, and to Yenagoa and Port Harcourt.
Ten years ago, the community was razed by soldiers who came in search of youths believed to have murdered some policemen.
Back then, 20 people died and several buildings were destroyed.
But the hunt for militants is generating tension in Odi, whose Council of Chiefs Spokesman, Pereowei Agurah, vouched that it is a peaceful community.
He said even as the people do not accommodate militants, they do not want to take chances and get caught up in the fighting.
He, however, lamented that he is stranded as his car has no fuel.
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If the nigeria govt call the miltants crimals then the president himself and all the members of the national assemble are all crimals,let us know their salaries. The whole of nig is fighting for what does not belong to them,the oil belongs to the niger delta people.The nig govt has declear war against the niger delta people just because of our oil,and our so called leaders of the ijaw people has failed us and sold our pride to the govt of nigeria
The people of the area should submit to Millitary order and focus on our One Nigeria, But they are not to blame because this is their own Biafran war, but Government should take it easy on civilans there, because all is not millitant (Rebels)
The people of the area should understand that we all have accepted to be one Nigeria weather you like it or not, because their people are there when our one Nigeria was sign, let known body violet it
ONE NIGERIA WILL TAKE ITS STANDS IF THE FEDERAL GOVT. ADMITS HER RESPONSIBILITIES ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE RURAL AREAS IN NIGER DELTA REGION. AS A MATTER OF FACT, JTF MUST STOP THEIR ONSLAUGHT AGAINST NIGER DELTA REGION OR !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Perhaps the corrupt Nigerian govt will stop digging itself into a much deeper hole when the national income accruing to the federal coffers reaches zero for which the Patriots have nothing to lose. That is when Emperor Yar's administration and his foreign MNE masters, for which he is killing innocent Nigerians to please, will soon realize their errors that this is a war of attrition; let us see who will blink, first. Malam Yar has opened the Pandora's Box - let’s see how he puts the genie back into the bottle, unless it blows up in his face.
The so called criminality, militancy and restiveness of the Niger Delta youths is the outcome or better still 'refined product' of the 'crude' and insensitive exploitation and marginalisation that has taken place for over 50 years. The petro-dollars that were suppose to have made a difference in the region, have been largely stolen. The chickens have come home to roost. The major act of criminal neglect of the communities by the Federal Government is the root cause of the problem. The force of arms is not the solution.
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