In the last few days, the media has been awash with news of series of militants attacks on some communities in Ikorodu Lagos. What I notice is that, information has been scanty and many people have been making false claims as to the where, when and how of the attacks. Many of the comments on social media have taken ethnic and political colouration with many miscues. This is just an attempt to set the records straight. PS: I'm neither a militant nor a vandal, neither do I live in any of the communities I'll mention, but I've been there on several occasions because I have someone who lives close by and I've gone inside the creeks out of curiosity to see things for my self. The few times I went to the creeks, to say I was so shocked was an understatement. Although you can't just walk in their without an insider, don't mind me I was a campus journalist and I'm still doing some little journalistic work. This is just an attempt to tell the story as it is and disabuse our minds from rumours and half-truths.

The communities largely involved are Ishawo, Igbo Olomu, Elepete, Oke Muti and Magbon with Ishawo being the deadliest. It's been a while that I wanted to write about the menace of militants and vandals in that axis but my tight schedule wouldn't allow me. My initial write up was going to be based on the folly of withdrawing the pipeline surveillance contract from the OPC without thinking it through. Even if you had any grouse with the contract, you should just have reviewed and restructured it instead of cancelling it outrightly. I can say here unequivocally that the OPC did a better job than the Nigerian Army are doing there now. The boys had it tougher during that time but currently the only thing that happens is those soldiers going there every 3 days to collect money and fill their own jerry cans and zoom off. In fact in some places like Magbon, it is the soldiers that handle the pumps by themselves filling tankers and jerry cans. Those guys are stinkingly rich now. The major business in those communities are pipeline vandalism and sale of petrol. It's a big time business that has made many to become millionaires overnight and has big as it is overthere, government can never claim ignorance.

As can be noticed from some people's comments especially here on nairaland, some persons have been making some spurious allegations; from the bizarre, to the utterly ridiculous. While some say the militants are Niger Delta Avengers, some say they are fulani herdsmen and some others say they are Yorubas trying to give Biafra a bad name. Just imagine o gosh! Now let's take a look

1. These things(vandalism and oil theft) have been having in these communities for a while now with the only hiccups being the intervention of the OPC then but since the exit of the OPC boys, it has blossomed into a big time business. Many people are involved, male and female, old and young, policemen and soldiers. If you been close to the creeks before, you will be annoyed with the brazen display of defiance. Whenever their is "pressure" which is used to referred to when fuel has started flowing through the pipes to warrant pumping, you'll see them moving to the creeks in droves. Lots of women are involved in it and a visit to the creeks will make you think you are at some sort of market. They even sell beer, hot drinks and food at the river bank. You'll see cars and buses moving in at night with lots of kegs to make purchases. The kegs are 50-litre kegs and they go for between 2500 when fuel is not scarce to around 4500 when there is scarcity. At times during rainy season when there's much pressure, price drops to 1500 or 2000.

2. All the residents know what's going on. While some are involved, others simply cannot talk due to the fear for their lives and coupled with the fact that law enforcement agents are culpable. Many residents have been threatened and harassed so many times...........

Ok...so what are you trying to say @ OP

i am calling my correspondent too , if you blow lie here , we go fight

UndisputedBosom:
Ok...so what are you trying to say @ OP

Vandals war and not Niger Delta Militants responsible for the attacks

DaBullIT:
i am calling my correspondent too , if you blow lie here , we go fight

As predicted.

You ethnic bigot ran with the Ijaw militant attack without verifying now that the OP is showing you that this may be the work of rival vandal gangs you want to verify.

When I call you a confirmed zombie you go dey vex

GworoChewinMaga:


Vandals war and not Niger Delta Militants responsible for the attacks

Finally someone to clear the air.., you know when you have a thief in a yard, anything that gets missing he is reasponsible for it.

3. Contrary to claims by some nairalanders that the militants are from the niger delta that have been displaced by the military onslaught there, that is a blatant lie. 85% of those militants are Ijaw boys from Ondo State. I know a few names which I won't mention here. Some were born there, some have stayed for many years. In fact in Elepete phase 2, there's a place they call Abule Ijaw. The number of the militants spread across the creeks from Ishawo, igbo olomu, Elepete down to Arepo are more than 5, 000(five thousand not five hundred). There are many of them. Lots of teenagers among them in fact. Well armed. I've seen it in movies or on news before when people carry bullets abi magazine ni won pe ni across their chests, but it was there that I saw it live. The boys are a law unto themselves. They fear nobody and they kill for fun. They kill at the slightest provocation. They are the real dons in the pipeline vandalism business. They have camps on the rivers which the Yoruba folks that transact the illicit business with them don't know about because they only tie the kegs to the boats and use the boats to draw them away, fill them and draw them back for sales. Then you have carriers, the young boys in the area that carry the kegs from the river banks to where the vehicles are waiting (a distance of about 70m) for 150 naira per keg. Some of them have married Yoruba women while some just go about sleeping with the young village girls, raping both girls and married women especially in Ishawo.

4. The Ishawo guys are the deadliest in the Ikorodu axis. Ishawo is a no go area especially for folks that live around Agric. Ishawo militants even have a cell where they take people to for punishment and torture. They've become so much powerful there. The impunity in Ishawo is second to none. You see them with guns in broad daylight. They rape married women in front of their husbands without giving a hoot. It is pertinent to note at this juncture that these militants are not only vandals, they are also the ones responsible for spate of robbery attacks and kidnapping all around. This happens especially when there is a stop in oil flow. So to keep body and soul together, they "diversify" their economy. The recent pipeline bombings in the niger delta has affected oil flow down there which has led them into other crimes which culminated in the current crises. I'm still coming to that. To the dude up there talking about his correspondents, it's either you go to meet them because if you have any at all you have no business here or you call them here to come and counter my claims. You are part of those in one thread like that blaming it on IPOB and NDA. Your ignorance is in terabytes.

UndisputedBosom:

Finally someone to clear the air.., you know when you have a thief in a yard, anything that gets missing he is reasponsible for it.

You can't steal what is your own.

Niger Delta Militants also do not attack civilians unlike those Boko lunatics and Fulani bastards

GworoChewinMaga:


You can't steal what is your own.

Niger Delta Militants also do not attack civilians unlike those Boko lunatics and Fulani bastards

But wait ooo...wia z dy amnesty given 2 dz guy durin' GEJ admin.....

UndisputedBosom:


But wait ooo...wia z dy amnesty given 2 dz guy durin' GEJ admin.....

I don't understand your question.

Pls reconstruct it in proper Englsih as I don't understand what you wrote.

GworoChewinMaga:


I don't understand your question.

Pls reconstruct it in proper Englsih as I don't understand what you wrote.

I meant the amnesty given to the Niger Delta Militants that made them to surrender their weapons althrough the administration of GEJ...what happened to it?

5. The militants in the Ishawo axis became so powerful to the extent that they were venturing towards Agric already until the deployment of more soldiers and armoured tanks around December 2015 pushed them back. But they still hold sway. Many of them go to bars to drink and after having drinks worth thousands, they'll refuse to pay and if the sellers talk, they will be threatened with death. I witnessed one in Elepete. If you are close to any of these communities, you'll know the names of some of these militants especially those heading each unit where fuel is sold.
They are also very fetish. Every Friday they don't work no matter the "pressure" because it is on Fridays that they do "irubo" (performing rituals and sacrifices". It is only the Ijaw folks that can enter ther groove (the pathway) to their camps located only God knows where on the river. The only people that have been there that are non-Ijaw are those taken there for punishment.
NB: The "ebute" (river bank) where they sell fuel is not some hidden or secret groove, it is an open place where young and old go to sell whenever oil start flowing and they start filling the kegs. Like I said earlier, lots of people go their to sell beer, food, hot drinks, sweets, chewing gums, even kids. Many of the young girls in the area have deserted their boyfriends to go with Ijaw guys just because of the money. This now brings me to the genesis of the current attacks...... I'm sorry I gotta sleep for now, will do justice to that as soon as I wake.

Before I continue, I want to state categorically that I'm not moved at all by the rants of some folks here who reek of ignorance or whatever you can call it. In fact some accused me of making up the story since it doesn't suit their myopic understanding. To some others I am a Biafran or IPOB, well some mental slavery can never be cured. For the avoidance of doubt, I am not a journalist and I'm not working as one (I only said I used to be a campus journalist), these are just my personal experiences there. To the fools shouting Biafra and reading ethnic meanings into it, you can't be more Yoruba than I am. The first time I was there I was so annoyed with the brazen attitude and the impunity of the Ijaw boys on Yoruba soil. It was so sickening and annoying, so shove your bigotry into the blackest hole in your body and face the topic. You can call up anybody living there or just travel down there to confirm. I'm responsible for what I write not what you understand or believe.

6. The current crisis
This cannot be analysed without making reference to the current spate of pipeline bombings in the Niger Delta which has disrupted the flow of refined fuel from the Niger Delta to the NNPC depots through the pipelines. This has invariably affected the businesses of these militants/vandals from Majidun to, Arepo, from Ishawo to Igbo Olomu. Many of these militants in many parts of Lagos and Ogun states are from different parts of the Niger Delta while those involved in the current crises are the Ondo Ijaws. The stop in the flow of oil has pushed the militants into other crimes for survival. For example while I was there earlier this month precisely on the 6th of June, a group of villagers came from Elepete phase 2 to lodge a complaint with one of the oldest people in the village and a community leader (names withheld). I was there discussing Nigerian politics with the man because I saw him as being cerebral and well-informed and the first time I met the man, we bonded so whenever I go to that place, I sit with him in front of his house to learn and analyse. So they came to report to the man that some Ijaw militants came overnight to pack all their chickens away and that as if that wasn't enough, they came during the day (that Sunday) again and shot at some goats. While some people rushed out to see what was happening as the goats scampered for safety, they were threatened with guns pointed at them. The man only told them to exercise patience because he will talk to the CDA (community development association) to fashion a way forward because series of reports to the police have yielded nothing except them being told to go and settle it in-house. Besides the man himself had earlier this year suffered harassment from the militants in which he was manhandled and his car vandalised. In fact, a couple of months back, 2 police officers were killed in Igbo Olomu for venturing close to the creeks with their bodies taken away. One of the police officers was named Wale, very popular and young officer attached to the Owutu police station.

7. The Real Issue
Last week Friday, some of the Ijaw militants went to rob at a filling station popularly know as Bravo along Ogijo road and the robbery was successful. Four of them later lodged at a hotel close to transformer junction in Elepete Phase 1. I won't mention the name of the hotel but I once spent a night there. I don't know how some SARS officers got the information but they stormed the hotel and killed the four guys there carrying their corpses with them. This enraged the militants who accused the members of the communities of sabotage and tipping off the policemen. They went on a shooting spree shooting at people sporadically. This prompted some of the landlords to write a petition against them. This actually enraged the boys further and on Thursday night through to the early hours of Friday, they went after landlords killing LOTS of them in Igbo Olomu, Elepete and Oke Muti. Many people have fled the areas for the safety of their lives. The government should as a matter of emergency come to the rescue of the people in those communities before they are wiped away. How do these poor villagers contend with militants fully armed with guns and grenades? Yes they have grenades.

NB: I'll ignore the cries of the naysayers, cry babies and the ethnic warlords. Bring out your facts and quit the rants.

m.a

Interesting read. Op please continue.

Story for the gods. Biafran terrorists.

Even Ikorodu has militants? Smh

Subscribed

Bekwarra:
In the last few days, the media has been awash with news of series of militants attacks on some communities in Ikorodu Lagos. What I notice is that, information has been scanty and many people have been making false claims as to the where, when and how of the attacks. Many of the comments on social media have taken ethnic and political colouration with many miscues. This is just an attempt to set the records straight. PS: I'm neither a militant nor a vandal, neither do I live in any of the communities I'll mention, but I've been there on several occasions because I have someone who lives close by and I've gone inside the creeks out of curiosity to see things for my self. The few times I went to the creeks, to say I was so shocked was an understatement. Although you can't just walk in their without an insider, don't mind me I was a campus journalist and I'm still doing some little journalistic work. This is just an attempt to tell the story as it is and disabuse our minds from rumours and half-truths.

The communities largely involved are Ishawo, Igbo Olomu, Elepete, Oke Muti and Magbon with Ishawo being the deadliest. It's been a while that I wanted to write about the menace of militants and vandals in that axis but my tight schedule wouldn't allow me. My initial write up was going to be based on the folly of withdrawing the pipeline surveillance contract from the OPC without thinking it through. Even if you had any grouse with the contract, you should just have reviewed and restructured it instead of cancelling it outrightly. I can say here unequivocally that the OPC did a better job than the Nigerian Army are doing there now. The boys had it tougher during that time but currently the only thing that happens is those soldiers going there every 3 days to collect money and fill their own jerry cans and zoom off. In fact in some places like Magbon, it is the soldiers that handle the pumps by themselves filling tankers and jerry cans. Those guys are stinkingly rich now. The major business in those communities are pipeline vandalism and sale of petrol. It's a big time business that has made many to become millionaires overnight and has big as it is overthere, government can never claim ignorance.

As can be noticed from some people's comments especially here on nairaland, some persons have been making some spurious allegations; from the bizarre, to the utterly ridiculous. While some say the militants are Niger Delta Avengers, some say they are fulani herdsmen and some others say they are Yorubas trying to give Biafra a bad name. Just imagine o gosh! Now let's take a look

1. These things(vandalism and oil theft) have been having in these communities for a while now with the only hiccups being the intervention of the OPC then but since the exit of the OPC boys, it has blossomed into a big time business. Many people are involved, male and female, old and young, policemen and soldiers. If you been close to the creeks before, you will be annoyed with the brazen display of defiance. Whenever their is "pressure" which is used to referred to when fuel has started flowing through the pipes to warrant pumping, you'll see them moving to the creeks in droves. Lots of women are involved in it and a visit to the creeks will make you think you are at some sort of market. They even sell beer, hot drinks and food at the river bank. You'll see cars and buses moving in at night with lots of kegs to make purchases. The kegs are 50-litre kegs and they go for between 2500 when fuel is not scarce to around 4500 when there is scarcity. At times during rainy season when there's much pressure, price drops to 1500 or 2000.

2. All the residents know what's going on. While some are involved, others simply cannot talk due to the fear for their lives and coupled with the fact that law enforcement agents are culpable. Many residents have been threatened and harassed so many times...........

Buull shyyte tale by moonlight!

Go and sit down! An official response will be released soon.

Bekwarra:
3. Contrary to claims by some nairalanders that the militants are from the niger delta that have been displaced by the military onslaught there, that is a blatant lie. 85% of those militants are Ijaw boys from Ondo State. I know a few names which I won't mention here. Some were born there, some have stayed for many years. In fact in Elepete phase 2, there's a place they call Abule Ijaw. The number of the militants spread across the creeks from Ishawo, igbo olomu, Elepete down to Arepo are more than 5, 000(five thousand not five hundred). There are many of them. Lots of teenagers among them in fact. Well armed. I've seen it in movies or on news before when people carry bullets abi magazine ni won pe ni across their chests, but it was there that I saw it live. The boys are a law unto themselves. They fear nobody and they kill for fun. They kill at the slightest provocation. They are the real dons in the pipeline vandalism business. They have camps on the rivers which the Yoruba folks that transact the illicit business with them don't know about because they only tie the kegs to the boats and use the boats to draw them away, fill them and draw them back for sales. Then you have carriers, the young boys in the area that carry the kegs from the river banks to where the vehicles are waiting (a distance of about 70m) for 150 naira per keg. Some of them have married Yoruba women while some just go about sleeping with the young village girls, raping both girls and married women especially in Ishawo.

4. The Ishawo guys are the deadliest in the Ikorodu axis. Ishawo is a no go area especially for folks that live around Agric. Ishawo militants even have a cell where they take people to for punishment and torture. They've become so much powerful there. The impunity in Ishawo is second to none. You see them with guns in broad daylight. They rape married women in front of their husbands without giving a hoot. It is pertinent to note at this juncture that these militants are not only vandals, they are also the ones responsible for spate of robbery attacks and kidnapping all around. This happens especially when there is a stop in oil flow. So to keep body and soul together, they "diversify" their economy. The recent pipeline bombings in the niger delta has affected oil flow down there which has led them into other crimes which culminated in the current crises. I'm still coming to that. To the dude up there talking about his correspondents, it's either you go to meet them because if you have any at all you have no business here or you call them here to come and counter my claims. You are part of those in one thread like that blaming it on IPOB and NDA. Your ignorance is in terabytes.

This is nothing but a backend attempt to pump up Ijaw as some invicible deadly people that should be feared. You profile yourself as some reliable journalist to gain people trust and then you spin conjectural tales to podition Ijaw as a dominant independence force on a foreign land. What are they, Ijaw herdsmen?

They rape, they torture, they vandalize, they use drug, they carry deadly weapon.....is that all the good you see in Ijaw people, is criminalty an Ijaw culture? Who send you?

Have been a member of this forum now for quite a couple of years been watching from the side lines but the rubbish and degrading words i read about this issue is what prompted me to speak out and charge us to think wisely and do our research well before saying some of the things we say. Well thanks op for enlightening most of the nairaland folks who think it's some tale. It's true most of it if not all what the op has stated above.. I know cos I live there and I know the hardship we face everyday we can't even leave our houses while most peeps have left their homes cos of fear of being the next victim of stray bullet...I pray the millitary is deployed fast to this area cos the lawlessness is much I don't believe the police can curb such violence cos the ammunitions that they have are rumoured to be more powerful than that of the police.. thanks once again op for the enlightenment... I pray peace is restored soonest..I know some people will still call all this lies and propanganda but only a fool doubts without understanding the basis of the story. No one is trying to portray the ijaws as bad people but I can say that once you come to this areas and you ask even the kids the cause of this violence they can testify that it's them.. our differnces in culture is what affects us as Nigerians it's clouds our judgement of truth speaking instead we think they always want to say bad about our tribe or ethnic group .. thank you. Say no to # tribalism# I believe the sensible and free thinkers of nairaland will understand...

Fanyogoyogo:
Story for the gods. Biafran terrorists.

I just wish we can donate sense for you.


I honestly do

Breadmaker:
I just wish we can donate sense for you.
I honestly do

Biafran talking about sense, TGIF.

MayorofLagos:


Buull shyyte tale by moonlight!

Go and sit down! An official response will be released soon.

Abi. Who are these terrorists lying to?

dopeboi142:
Have been a member of this forum now for quite a couple of years been watching from the side lines but the rubbish and degrading words i read about this issue is what prompted me to speak out and charge us to think wisely and do our research well before saying some of the things we say. Well thanks op for enlightening most of the nairaland folks who think it's some tale. It's true most of it if not all what the op has stated above.. I know cos I live there and I know the hardship we face everyday we can't even leave our houses while most peeps have left their homes cos of fear of being the next victim of stray bullet...I pray the millitary is deployed fast to this area cos the lawlessness is much I don't believe the police can curb such violence cos the ammunitions that they have are rumoured to be more powerful than that of the police.. thanks once again op for the enlightenment... I pray peace is restored soonest..I know some people will still call all this lies and propanganda but only a fool doubts without understanding the basis of the story. No one is trying to portray the ijaws as bad people but I can say that once you come to this areas and you ask even the kids the cause of this violence they can testify that it's them.. our differnces in culture is what affects us as Nigerians it's clouds our judgement of truth speaking instead we think they always want to say bad about our tribe or ethnic group .. thank you. Say no to # tribalism# I believe the sensible and free thinkers of nairaland will understand...

So let me ask you this, how is the Ijaw settlement in these places different from the pattern of living back at home in Rivers and Bayelsa?

Do Ijaws raype married women back in their homeland?

The story corroborates what a friend who belongs to one of these Intelligence agency told me.

Government has to do something about these terrors once and for all, gradually they are turning this area to dead zone .

whether you believe it or not,we don't care.Everybody here knows the ijaw people here are responsible for the crimes.

Bekwarra:
In the last few days, the media has been awash with news of series of militants attacks on some communities in Ikorodu Lagos. What I notice is that, information has been scanty and many people have been making false claims as to the where, when and how of the attacks. Many of the comments on social media have taken ethnic and political colouration with many miscues. This is just an attempt to set the records straight. PS: I'm neither a militant nor a vandal, neither do I live in any of the communities I'll mention, but I've been there on several occasions because I have someone who lives close by and I've gone inside the creeks out of curiosity to see things for my self. The few times I went to the creeks, to say I was so shocked was an understatement. Although you can't just walk in their without an insider, don't mind me I was a campus journalist and I'm still doing some little journalistic work. This is just an attempt to tell the story as it is and disabuse our minds from rumours and half-truths.

The communities largely involved are Ishawo, Igbo Olomu, Elepete, Oke Muti and Magbon with Ishawo being the deadliest. It's been a while that I wanted to write about the menace of militants and vandals in that axis but my tight schedule wouldn't allow me. My initial write up was going to be based on the folly of withdrawing the pipeline surveillance contract from the OPC without thinking it through. Even if you had any grouse with the contract, you should just have reviewed and restructured it instead of cancelling it outrightly. I can say here unequivocally that the OPC did a better job than the Nigerian Army are doing there now. The boys had it tougher during that time but currently the only thing that happens is those soldiers going there every 3 days to collect money and fill their own jerry cans and zoom off. In fact in some places like Magbon, it is the soldiers that handle the pumps by themselves filling tankers and jerry cans. Those guys are stinkingly rich now. The major business in those communities are pipeline vandalism and sale of petrol. It's a big time business that has made many to become millionaires overnight and has big as it is overthere, government can never claim ignorance.

As can be noticed from some people's comments especially here on nairaland, some persons have been making some spurious allegations; from the bizarre, to the utterly ridiculous. While some say the militants are Niger Delta Avengers, some say they are fulani herdsmen and some others say they are Yorubas trying to give Biafra a bad name. Just imagine o gosh! Now let's take a look

1. These things(vandalism and oil theft) have been having in these communities for a while now with the only hiccups being the intervention of the OPC then but since the exit of the OPC boys, it has blossomed into a big time business. Many people are involved, male and female, old and young, policemen and soldiers. If you been close to the creeks before, you will be annoyed with the brazen display of defiance. Whenever their is "pressure" which is used to referred to when fuel has started flowing through the pipes to warrant pumping, you'll see them moving to the creeks in droves. Lots of women are involved in it and a visit to the creeks will make you think you are at some sort of market. They even sell beer, hot drinks and food at the river bank. You'll see cars and buses moving in at night with lots of kegs to make purchases. The kegs are 50-litre kegs and they go for between 2500 when fuel is not scarce to around 4500 when there is scarcity. At times during rainy season when there's much pressure, price drops to 1500 or 2000.

2. All the residents know what's going on. While some are involved, others simply cannot talk due to the fear for their lives and coupled with the fact that law enforcement agents are culpable. Many residents have been threatened and harassed so many times...........

For an aspiring journalist, your use of English is abysmal.

Clean it up please. I was struggling to understand some parts of your write up.

Hd

dopeboi142:
Have been a member of this forum now for quite a couple of years been watching from the side lines but the rubbish and degrading words i read about this issue is what prompted me to speak out and charge us to think wisely and do our research well before saying some of the things we say. Well thanks op for enlightening most of the nairaland folks who think it's some tale. It's true most of it if not all what the op has stated above.. I know cos I live there and I know the hardship we face everyday we can't even leave our houses while most peeps have left their homes cos of fear of being the next victim of stray bullet...I pray the millitary is deployed fast to this area cos the lawlessness is much I don't believe the police can curb such violence cos the ammunitions that they have are rumoured to be more powerful than that of the police.. thanks once again op for the enlightenment... I pray peace is restored soonest..I know some people will still call all this lies and propanganda but only a fool doubts without understanding the basis of the story. No one is trying to portray the ijaws as bad people but I can say that once you come to this areas and you ask even the kids the cause of this violence they can testify that it's them.. our differnces in culture is what affects us as Nigerians it's clouds our judgement of truth speaking instead we think they always want to say bad about our tribe or ethnic group .. thank you. Say no to # tribalism# I believe the sensible and free thinkers of nairaland will understand...

Nice write-up...

Much of what the OP has said is true. I used to work in the Agric area before so I have heard most of this before. Infact, my former boss used to patronize the vandals during the period of fuel scarcity