Politics

WARRI—Hundreds of villagers, including women and children, fleeing from different Gbaramatu communities in Warri South-West Local Government Area of Delta State, following the siege by soldiers, have remained trapped in the bush for the past four days without food.

This came as Niger Delta Avengers yesterday accused the Chief of Army Staff, COAS, Lt.General Tukur Buratai, of telling President Muhammadu Buhari, that its members were responsible for the death of 50 soldiers in the creeks of the Niger Delta.

Vanguard gathered that controlled movement in and out of the creeks by soldiers ostensibly to checkmate the militants, had also compounded the woes of fleeing victims as they could neither move nor get immediate help from relatives outside the crisis zone.

Reacting to the development, Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, in a statement by its spokesperson, Mr. Eric Omare, said: “The Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, Worldwide wishes to alert the world of the massive military and genocidal attacks against Ijaw people and communities of the Niger Delta of Nigeria.

“From Monday, May 30 to the early hours of today, Tuesday, May 31, 2016, there have been massive military attacks against innocent Ijaw communities and peoples from Gbaramatu to Ogbe-Ijoh Kingdoms in Delta State to Southern Ijaw, Nembe, Brass and some other local government areas of Bayelsa State.

“In Gbaramatu, Delta State the people, especially women and children are in serious danger of mass death if they are not rescued from the rampaging military officers.

‘’Most people that ran into the bush in Oporoza, Kurutie, Kunukunuma, Kokodiagbene and some other villages and communities in Gbaramatu Kingdom in Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State are yet to be seen.

“In parts of Ogbe-Ijoh, especially the Naifor Island (Opposite Warri), the Navy throughout the night of May 30 to May 31, shot sporadically into the communities and in the process, a couple (Mr and Mrs Tiemo) were critically wounded.

“Ironically, this couple only recently ran to Naifor Island to escape the military onslaught. The villagers in desperation took the critically injured couple to the Navy base where they left them for the Navy to do whatever they wished to do with the couple.”

The state of this couple from Ayakoromo community in Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State is still unknown at the time of issuing this statement.

‘’The IYC recall a similar incident a few months ago at the start of the renewed hostilities in the Niger Delta region in the same community.

“There is no oil facility in Naifor Island, Ogbe-Ijoh and none is close to the community. Therefore, there is no singular justification why the Navy has decided to use that particular community as its main target to justify the huge sum of money allocated to them to find the Avengers.’’

In its accusation of the Army chief, Niger Delta Avengers, NDA, in a tweet yesterday, gave account of how the soldiers perished, and denied claims by the Army that it arrested 10 of its members, last Saturday, at Oporoza, saying there was no truth in the claim.

The Chief of Army Staff had disclosed last weekend in Port Harcourt that the Niger Delta Avengers were criminals, adding that the group was killing soldiers in locations in the region and vowed that the army would crush them.

Buratai had said: “They have been attacking our troop locations, killing our soldiers. We will not tolerate them. We will deal with them according to the law. We will look for them wherever they are, they are not agitating for anything, and they are just into crime.

‘’Communities should be patriotic enough to expose these criminals. They have nothing to fear, they should help fish out these criminals killing our soldiers, and we will not tolerate that.”
But the militants said in response: ‘’The Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General T. Y. Buratai, in his statement said NDA killed Nigeria soldiers, it is a big lie. Chief of Army Staff, we are not the ones killing your sol