The rampaging Niger Delta Avengers has provided a grisly account of how 50
Nigerian soldiers deployed to the Niger Delta to protect oil and gas
facilities died in the creeks.
In a statement on its Tweeter handle, the group claimed that the Chief of
Army Staff, Major General T Y Burutai deployed men lacking amphibious
training to the Niger Delta creeks.
The group explained that they drowned in the creeks without being attacked
and that but for fishermen, those dead would have risen to 100 soldiers,
adding
that the military lied when it said Niger Delta Avengers killed the soldiers.
NDA said it will be proud to accept responsibility if the ND Avengers were
responsible and challenged the military to gun duel.
Meanwhile, tension is mounting in the state between the Ijaw and Itsekri
ethnic groups over the invasion of the Gbaramatu’s communities by the
military.
The Ijaws have accused their Itsekiri neighbours of being behind their
travail as the latter was fueling pipeline vandalism and prompting the
military to invade their communities.
‘’It is also imperative to raise the alarm that an ethnicity crisis is
looming in the Delta creeks because the enemies of the kingdom are the
ones fueling the pipeline vandalism and military invasion’’, a prominent
community leader, Comrade Sheriff Mulade, alleged, adding that ‘’It is
clear from the ongoing assaults and mindless abuse of human rights that
the intention of the Nigerian Army is to wipe out everything that has live
in Gbaramatu kingdom.’’
The people have cried to the federal government over the invasion of
communities by the military searching for rampaging militants, saying that
the development has affected the on-going school certificate examinations
organized by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and National
Examinations Council (NECO)
Leaders of the communities averred that several students who ran into the
bush because of the invasion were yet to be accounted for, adding that the
academic session has been entirely disrupted.
They stated that because of the prevailing situation all schools in the
area have been shut down, appealing to both the federal and state
governments to step in and arrest the dire situation.
Besides, the communities also appeal to the marauding Niger Delta Avengers
(NDA) to stop the mindless bombing of pipelines, as according to them,
apart from causing a dip in crude production, the ecosystem is badly
affected and this will pave the way for the continued occupation of the
region by the military.
They said it was unfortunate that the hosting of oil and gas installation
was becoming a curse rather than a blessing to the communities, claiming
that these communities were completely neglected and their environment
bastardized as a result of many years of oil exploration and
exploitation activities.
But they maintained that ‘’no amount of intimidation and harassment of our
people by the military will make us to run away from our land’’.
They cautioned the military to thread softly on their search for Avengers
in order not to hurt innocent citizens and use more of intelligence and
professionalism in their search for the renegades.