As Otuaro woos Delta monarchs to stop
militants
Delta bans speedboats, vessels in 6 LGAs
By Emma Amaize, Samuel Oyadongha,
Akpokona Omafuaire, Egufe Yafugborhi &
Perez Brisibe
SOLDIERS invaded Kokodiagbene, another
Ijaw community in Gbaramatu clan, Warri
South-West Local Government Area, Delta
State, weekend, in search of members of
Niger Delta Avengers who went
underground after their meeting in
Bayelsa State, last week.
Chairman of the community, Mr Sheriff
Mulade, told Vanguard , yesterday: “We
condemn strongly the invasion of
Kokodiagbene on Saturday by the military
Joint Task Force, JTF. Some people were
beaten up, while others were harassed. It
was uncalled for.”
Arrested Ijaw, Itsekiri youths were
surveillance workers, not militants
Meanwhile, an Ijaw leader in Delta State,
Chief Godspower Gbenekama, yesterday,
faulted the arrest of five Ijaw and Itsekiri
surveillance workers by the military on
Friday, in connection with the bombing of
Chevron Nigeria Limited, CNL, pipeline at
Makaraba community, Gbaramatu clan,
Warri South-West Local Government Area,
saying they are not militants.
He gave the names of the two Itsekiri
workers of a CNL contractor working in
the area as Samuel Emiko and Alfred
Timedi, and the three Ijaw workers as
Isaac Edinde, Henry Arogboritse and
Kelvin Mordi (Ijaw), saying they were on
surveillance patrol when the soldiers
picked them up.
He said: “The so-called Avengers arrested
by the military are not militants but
Chevron workers who were working under
a Chevron Pipeline and Facility
Surveillance Programme. They are both
Ijaw and Itsekiri surveillance workers in
the Utunama Flow Station axis.
“The Itsekiri and Ijaw Regional
Development Councils under the platform
of CNL, know about their engagement and
the soldiers, who arrested them, saw their
identity cards and other things. They know
they are not militants,” he added.
Also, the people of Kunukunuma
community and Gbaramatu Political
Forum, GPF, in Delta State, yesterday,
warned those who have disagreement with
former militant leader, Chief Government
Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, to refrain
from stirring the Federal Government
against Gbaramatu Kingdom over the
recent destruction of pipelines by Niger
Delta Avengers.
The group handed down the warning, just
as ex-militant leader from Rivers state,
Chief Ateke Tom, berated the Niger Delta
Avengers for its resort to militancy and
destruction of oil installations in Delta
State in particular and other parts of the
Niger Delta region.
IYC blames FG
Similarly, Ijaw Youth Council, IYC,
worldwide, has blamed what it described
as “the combative and insensitive posture”
of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led
Federal Government to issues affecting the
Niger Delta for the renewed hostilities in
the region.
President of IYC, Mr Udengs Eradiri, who
addressed newsmen, yesterday, in
Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, to commemorate
this year's Isaac Boro Day celebration,
lamented that issues that gave rise to
Boro’s agitation, such as marginalisation
and underdevelopment among others,
were yet to be addressed.
Also, National President of Ijaw People
Development Initiative, IPDI, Austin
Ozobo, yesterday, said former President
Goodluck Jonathan did not set up the
Niger Delta Avengers to destabilize the
Buhari government as alleged recently by
an ex-militant leader and national
coordinator of National Coalition of Niger
Delta Ex-Agitators, Israel Akpodoro.
Ozobo, who berated Akpodoro in a
statement, however, urged President
Buhari to address an alleged
marginalisation of the region and end the
attacks by the aggrieved Avengers.
He said: “Jonathan never set up any
Avengers to fight for him. Before the
elections, Jonathan always said his
ambition was not worth the blood of
innocent Nigerians. Jonathan even
congratulated Buhari before the final
announcement of the presidential election
results.”
Otuaro woos Delta monarchs
Meanwhile, Deputy Governor of Delta State
and Chairman, Delta State Advocacy
Committee against Oil Facility Vandalism,
Mr Kingsley Otuaro, has urged monarchs
in the riverine areas of the state to use
their privileged position to assist the
state government with intelligence to stop
militants from further vandalizing oil and
gas facilities.
He spoke when he led the committee on a
visit to the Olu of Warri, Ogiame Ikenwoli
and Agadagba of Egbema Kingdom, at
their palaces in Warri and Ogbudugbudu,
Warri South and Warri North Local
Government Areas, respectively.
Otuaro told the Warri monarch that
Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, worried by the
spate of oil facility vandalism in the state,
directed him to ask the royal fathers to
assist government to apprehend the
perpetrators.
“As a nation and as a state, we are
already in deep economic crisis by virtue
of the fall in oil prices in the world
market. Any further attacks on oil facility
will worsen our already bad situation,” he
said.
In his reaction, the Olu of Warri said: “I
will send my chiefs to all nooks and
crannies to help resolve the problem. The
fact that the governor had to send you,
his deputy, to the creeks, shows that the
thing is touching.”
The Olu recalled that first, it was
Movement for the Emancipation of the
Niger Delta, MEND, and now, the Niger
Delta Avengers, NDA, whose activities
have crippled the economy and hampering
government capacity to deliver projects to
the people.
“What are they avenging? Vengeance
belongs to God. Man’s vengeance is
limited. The spate of vandalism is giving
the state a bad name,” he added.
Delta bans movement of speedboats in 6
LGs
Also, to rein in Niger Delta Avengers,
Delta State Government has banned the
movement of speedboats and vessels in
six riverine local government areas of the
state between the hours of 10p.m. and
5a.m
The affected councils are Warri North,
Warri South, Warri South-West, Patani,
Bomadi and Burutu.
Meanwhile, a youth activist in Delta
State, Mr Jackson Timiyan, has urged the
JTF to stop arresting innocent residents of
Gbaramatu Kingdom, Warri South West
council, and go for the real members of
Niger Delta Avengers involved in wanton
destruction of oil installations in the
creeks of the state.
The activist, who is a former Secretary,
Kokodiagbene community, said those
arrested by JTF include Gbaramatu
indigenes engaged by Chevron in lawful
duty as Pipeline and Facilities
Surveillance Programme, PSFP, workers,
now under the Ijaw and Itsekiri Regional
Development Council, RDC, respectively for
over a decade now.
“Those affected, Alfred Timadi (current
Youth Employment Chairman,
Kokodiagbene), Samuel Emiko (immediate
past Assistant Secretary) and Isaac
Edende (Kokodiagbene) as well as Kelvin
Mordi and Henry Arogboritse from
Omadino community, are responsible
young men committed to their lawful jobs
without any criminal record," he said.
