Posted by Ezekiel Idabor


At least six Nigerian soldiers have been killed in new military campaign against militants in the country’s restive Niger Delta oil hub, security officials said on Friday.

The southern swampland has been largely quiet since the start of the year because militants halted attacks against oil pipelines to give the government a chance to conduct peace talks.

But in a new confrontation, army and security forces moved on Sunday into the Ajakpa community in Ondo state, a region west of the Niger Delta, to hunt down militants involved in oil theft and kidnapping.

At least six soldiers were killed, as was the leader of a gang that had used the area as base to stage operations inside the Delta, military officials told a news conference in the oil town of Yenagoa. The operation has not yet finished.

“Following that successful operation, our troops carried out a raid operation to clear remnants of miscreants, militant camps, shrines and hideouts,” a military statement said.

But the Ijaw Youth Council, representing the biggest ethnic group in the region, said the army had laid siege to the community and harmed civilians.

“No one is allowed to come in or go out from the community as the water ways have been blocked by the military,” it said in a statement. “Women and children are dying on the hour of starvation and diseases; women are being raped and sexually harassed.”

The military rejected the allegations as propaganda, reports Reuters.

A similar operation in a different area had fuelled an insurgency before the government managed to calm down tensions by promising more development for the impoverished region, a key demand from residents.

Villagers, complaining of poverty, often give militants shelter in the Niger Delta’s hard-to-access creeks.

The damage from attacks on Nigeria’s oil industry has exacerbated a downturn in Africa’s largest economy, which slipped into recession in 2016 for the first time in 25 years, largely due to low oil prices.

lalasticlala

At least six Nigerian soldiers have been killed in new military campaign against militants in the country’s restive Niger Delta oil hub, security officials said on Friday.

9jakool:

You lack knowledge of history. Ilaje are the original owner and they accommodated the Ijaw migrants. The Ijaw (Arogbo and Apoi) acknowledge themselves that they migrated from Bayelsa. Bayelsa is nowhere near Ondo. There is another Apoi tribe in Bayelsa which is where the Apoi in ondo state migrated from. The Arogbo came from Gbaran which is also in Bayelsa. The Apoi(the larger of the two Ijaws) in ondo state don't speak their language anymore as they were the first to settle and have been assimilated. The Arogbo still speak their language as well as Yoruba.

The Ijaw in Ondo didn't settle along the coastline because they are mostly riverine people. The Ilaje on the other hand engage in both riverine and sea activities. So, I don't get where you got your ill-sighted conclusion from.

The Ilaje are responsible for 97% of the oil in Ondo state. Stop making stupid excuses for the Ijaw militancy and violence in SW. They aren't even known for producing oil in the SW, so I don't know were you get that nonsense from.

Stop your pretend game, as if you care about Ijaw matters. You are not even Ijaw, but a jealous prick from the SE who lack knowledge of history or socio-political issues but is ready to jump unto made up fantasies to suit his agenda.

9jakool:

No one forced anything on them. Yoruba didn't put a sword down their throats and said assimilate or die. They settled in Yorubaland, what do you think was going to happen.
You do know that Yoruba are not one group of people, but a collection of multiple groups of people united by blood and origin. Oyo and Ekiti people are not coast dwellers but Awori, Ilaje and Ijebu people are expert in the sea. Yoruba traditions and lifestyles varies from one group to the other. Of course, the culture of Yoruba groups along the coast are going to be slightly different from more inland Yoruba. In Yoruba religion, one of the most important deity is olokun, who is the deity of the sea.
One Benin prince wondered into Lagos island(1% of Lagos state) centuries ago, met the already existing Awori Yoruba there, and now the entire Lagos state belongs to Benin? Please spare me the joke

01Alpha:
Nigeria is not worth dying for.

NnamdiiKanu:

You keep stealing their oil

Niger Delta has been feeding Nigeria since 1867

You steal their oil worth about $600 billion every year

Yet, you don't provide jobs for them, you don't provide good health Care for them, they can't even feed their children
Oil spillage is killing their plants, even the fishes in their river are being exterminated​ by oil spillage

Let's just talk like adults, what in the hell do you want them to do ?? Keep laying on the ground while you continue fuccking them ??

GameGod:
u behave like a kid.