JTF, militants in gun battle

WARRI – SOLDIERS suspected to be from the Joint Task Force, JTF, on the Niger Delta, Wednesday, stormed a militant camp in Ayakoromor community, Burutu Local Government Area of Delta state and engaged the militants in a gun battle.

Efforts to get the spokesman of the JTF, Lt. Col Timothy Antigha, for comments on the invasion failed as his GSM phone rang out more than seven times he was called, while a male soldier who answered on one occasion simply asked the reporter to call back.

It was gathered that soldiers struck at the camp at about 2.00 pm but Vanguard could not confirm if there was any casualty, as sources close to the militant camp, believed to be owned by wanted ex-militant leader, John Togo, claimed the militants chased the soldiers back.

NDLF spokesman, Mark Anthony who spoke to Vanguard on phone, last night, confirmed that JTF soldiers visited the camp and were chased back by the militants.

He, however, said, “The NDLF was not fighting anybody and had ceased hostilities as a result of the appeal by eminent Nigerians, including the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta, Hon. Kingsley Kuku to enable the Federal Government look into our grievances.

“It is, therefore, surprising to us to see the JTF coming to attack us, we are not fighting them and we are calling on President Goodluck Jonathan to call the task force to order, as we don’t want anybody to create the impression that we fighting them and that is why they attacked or that we do not want President Jonathan to rule the country in an atmosphere of peace”, he said.

“We have promised to maintain the peace and we have done that for months even when our demands have not been addressed, so the task force should not provoke us. Imagine what would have happened if our boys had decided to fight back.”

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/05/jtf-militants-in-gun-battle/

What is this country turning into? Militants chasing away JTF? Thought these militants have accepted amnesty? what are they still doing in the creeks? many questions the federal government should answer about the amnesty programme.

imagine sleeping beside flame and terminal yet u don't know the colour of crude oil and what the money is been used for

i dey laugh ooo

imagine somebody traveling with this how do u expect the person to be smiling and those of u from the north travel with jets

all these half baked stories sef

na dem get Government o!!!

not again,

JTF should leave them alone. Like they said, they've been quiet. How can you just get to someone's domain and start firing them? If it is a thing of pride, JTF cannot match those militants in the creek, outside the creek, they can overpower them.

America pulled out of vietnam even though the didn't win. JTF should leave them and swallow their pride it will not reduce them. The militants are not kidnapping again, they are not breaking pipeline again, the have not seized ships lately, so on what ground did JTF go to fight them.

All I'm saying is let us allow peace to reign by allowing the sleeping dog to lie

Same militants that drink tea with jonathan every evening ? This militant thing should be addressed once and for all.before their agitation was : free Alams and dokubo,later it was Jonathan must be acting president and finally jonathan, an ijaw man becomes the president.
so what agitation do they have again ?

JTF let those boys be,

JTF deploys more troops in Ayakoromor

WARRI – MORE troops were deployed in the riverine community of Ayakoromor, Burutu local government of Delta State, Thrusday, by the Joint Task Force, JTF, on the Niger-Delta, following Wednesday’s unfinished gun battle with a militant group in the area.

The deployment of more soldiers fuelled fears in the community and environs that soldiers might launch a full attack on defector militants in the next few days. An independent source told Vanguard yesterday that some persons were wounded in the battle.

Already, residents, particularly women and children started fleeing the community in droves, yesterday morning, when they saw the way soldiers besieging the town, which was a theatre of a gory war, last year, between the task force and ex-militant leader, John Togo, whose militant group, Niger-Delta Liberation Force, NDLF, killed some soldiers, allegedly in self-defense when their camp were invaded.

Vanguard gathered on good authority that tension mounted at the community yesterday, as a villager who spoke on phone said, “The women and children have been asked to leave the community for safety but the men were not allowed to leave”.

An apparent retaliatory attack by soldiers, in 2010, over the killing of their colleagues, witnessed the razing of many houses and several killings, which were utterly denied by the task force, but, the Federal Government directed that the burnt houses be re-built, while the state government also intervened by providing some relief materials to the people and also undertaking to build houses for the people.

Spokesman of JTF, Lt.Col Timothy Antigha , who confirmed the skirmish, said, “At about 13.53 hours today (Wednesday), again in Ayakoromo community in Burutu local government area of Delta state, there was a skirmish between troops of the JTF who were on routine patrol and renegade militants, suspected to be associates of the wanted John Togo”.

“Further details will be provided later. You will recall that the just two days ago, the JTF in a press release warned that discredited politicians who lost election in Delta state were colluding with some discredited elements to threaten security in the state and region”, he stated.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/05/jtf-deploys-more-troops-in-ayakoromor/

sylve11:

JTF let those boys be,

Are you one of them ?

Battle 4 Delta Oil,

sylve11:

JTF let those boys be,

and let the attacks resume

sirjec:

JTF should leave them alone. Like they said, they've been quiet. How can you just get to someone's domain and start firing them? If it is a thing of pride, JTF cannot match those militants in the creek, outside the creek, they can overpower them.

America pulled out of vietnam even though the didn't win. JTF should leave them and swallow their pride it will not reduce them. The militants are not kidnapping again, they are not breaking pipeline again, the have not seized ships lately, so on what ground did JTF go to fight them.

All I'm saying is let us allow peace to reign by allowing the sleeping dog to lie

Besides business as usual, are you saying its this legal to stock all those arms?

In a country with Laws!!!!

trouble dey sleep, yanga wan go wake am

~Bluetooth:

Are you one of them ?

If he is one of them what will you do? You dont everyone on NL I guess.
Let the sleeping dog lie. There is gross injustice on the way post-amnesty is handled. But we believe diagolue will be better!

When there was crisis in the north that led to the death of many innocent Nigerians the army operating in those areas never did anything to stop the slaughter of Nigerians simply because their trigers were stiff and unmovable. But when it comes to the issue of Niger Delta militants the so called JTF are always fast to pull their trigers. They should better go for thanksgiving because God saved them from death. Because had it been those militants laid their hands on Gee p, BMG AND RMG etc their wives would have been widows by now. Let the JTF leave the militants and Niger Delta alone because they cant stand those militants in action.

Bensonite:

If he is one of them what will you do? You dont everyone on NL I guess.
Let the sleeping dog lie. There is gross injustice on the way post-amnesty is handled. But we believe diagolue will be better!

I wonder if that question solves any of the problems. There's always a tendency to personalise and even ethnicise issues in this country, that's where the problem lies.

Shebi dem tell us that its because SS has not been allowed to rule thats why militants dey fight?

So what now?

Didn,t clueless GEJ tell us that those boys of his has renounced militancy and turned in their weapons, so how come they were abel to withstand a JTF raid
I dey laugh continously

Besides business as usual, are you saying its this legal to stock all those arms?

is it legal for one legislooter to go home with 15m per month?

jmaine:

If that militant camp belongs to John Togo then the JTF have the exclusive right to flush them out . .John Togo is a wanted man and anything linked to him deserves the attention of the Armed forces. . . . But why can't equal measures be meted out to the Boko haram sects . . . though their guerrilla warfare style makes them evasive as you can't identify them among the populace but adequate information gathering will be key . .the boko haram are careless and not as organized as the Niger delta criminals so should be easy meat to the military

Only sour points is that when the jets start rolling in . .the casualty of the innocents do occupy alarming figures

Maybe Govt should give Boko haram amnesty and monthly salary like they do to MEND

LATEST UPDATES ON THE BATTLE

Gunfire in the creek as JTF razes John Togo’s militant den

By Emma Amaize
WARRI- GUNSHOTS thundered for hours in the creek of Delta State, thursday, as the Joint Task Force, JTF, on the Niger-Delta, shelled a militant camp, belonging to wanted ex-militant leader, John Togo, with military helicopters and gunboats.

The number of casualties could not be ascertained but it was learnt that many of the militants were injured in the gunfire.

The whereabouts of John Togo, who is the leader of the Niger-Delta Liberation Force, NDLF, was not known as at the time of this report, but Vanguard learnt that his camp inside the forest in Ayakoromor was completely razed by the task force, which attacked from the sky, ground and marine.

An Ayakoromor villager who called Vanguard at about 3.00 pm said, “As I speak to you now, soldiers are bombarding John Togo’s militant camp in the bush, we heard that they have completely razed down the camp and the boys are on the run”.

“The JTF came prepared with different types of military arsenal and they went all out to attack the camp”, he stated.

Efforts to get comments from the JTF spokesman, Lt. Col. Timothy Antigha at about 4.00 pm on the raid on John Togo’s camp were not successful as his phone rang out.

John Togo fled to a new den, which he called Israel Barracks, off the Atlantic Ocean, when the JTF closed in on him, last year, after his fighters ambushed and killed some of the soldiers who invaded his camp with a view to overrunning it.

Before he relocated to Israel Barracks, he destroyed the camp with dynamites, but JTF said he was only trying to blindfold the public, as it met some things intact when its men stormed the camp. The militant den was taken by the task force since last year.

However, John Togo has several militant camps and the task force is only discovering them by the day. At the moment, it is occupying not less than two militant camps run by John Togo in Burutu local government area, and with the destruction of another camp, yesterday, the task force is definitely closing in on him.

Efforts to reach the spokesman of the NDLF, Mark Anthony, on the attack by the JTF proved abortive, but he had told Vanguard on Wednesday that the militant group was not fighting the task force because it had ceased hostilities, and was waiting for the response of the Federal Government to respond to their grievances following appeal to them by eminent Nigerians, including the national president of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor and the Special Adviser to the President on Niger-Delta Affairs, Hon. Kingsley Kuku

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/05/gunfire-in-the-creek-as-jtf-razes-john-togos-militant-den/

What kind of military do we even have
Did they ve strong intel that Gen. JohnTogo was in the camp, or they just went there to flex muscles by bombing d camp.
Moreso, I find it very funny that d military's command & control in d North seems im-be-ci-lic (pple re slaughtered time after time, corp's member killed, bomb explosions e.t.c). compared 2 d SS &SE commandd & control that is trigger happy, and shell vilages. (Odi, Gbaramatu, &Ayakuromor)

There should be a reason. The militants have been very peaceful of lately. On the other hand, if militants could chaes the jtf just imagine how powerful they are

dayokanu:

Maybe Govt should give Boko haram amnesty and monthly salary like they do to MEND

The newly elected Borno State governor offered the amnesty truce flag to the sect in the same model to that of MEND and they rejected stating that their ultimate aim is to see sharia law being administered on a larger scale in Nigeria as prescribed by the Qur'an . So in the absence of peace . .the Military need to reign on them.

Two camps down a thousand to go by the time GEJ and his army of unintelligent looneies find this guy he would have surrendered out of boredom.
Am i the only one or does anyone agree that Azazi is the worst NSA ever why can't we bring back 6usau or Danjuma?

which militants are we talking about here?

jmaine:

The newly elected Borno State governor offered the amnesty truce flag to the sect in the same model to that of MEND and they rejected stating that their ultimate aim is to see sharia law being administered on a larger scale in Nigeria as prescribed by the Qur'an . So in the absence of peace . .the Military need to reign on them.

Did they offer them monetary incentive, Overseas training and presidential breakfast like their Southern counterparts