N’Delta: JTF arrests four militants, 14-year-old girl
By Olamilekan Lartey, Sola Adebayo and Femi Makinde
Published: Wednesday, 14 Jan 2009
The Joint Task Force in the Niger Delta on Tuesday said it arrested four militants and recovered a cache of arms in the Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.


Photo file
CLARK
Also arrested along with them is a 14-year-old girl identified as Miss Igoh Uwekanauyane from Warri, Delta State.

The mission of the girl in the presence of the militants could not be ascertained from the creeks as at press time.

The arrest came as the JTF intensified its cordon and search operations in the Southern Ijaw and Nembe communities of the state following the attacks on the Tebidaba oil installation and JTF location in the state

The JTF media coordinator, Lt.Col Rabe Abubakar, said the patrol troops arrested the militants and the teenager.

Abubakar said the militants included, Chief Understand Mode, (48) from Ondo State, Mr. Baueritei Christmas, (23) form Ondo State, Mr. Bebeliziba Joseph, (43) from Apoi Community, Mr. Keneth T. Fietabara, (19) from Apoi community.

He said intelligence reports had linked them with the attack at Tebidaba Agip flow station.

He said, “The operation was to separate the innocent citizens from the criminals with a view of bringing them to order.”

Abubakar said the cordon and search operation was aimed at isolating the law-abiding members of the public while the search for arms and criminal elements was in progress.

He said, “In order to achieve peace and security for the overall well-being of the communities and the region in general and to avert further attacks in our locations in Bayelsa State and the whole of the Niger Delta, the JTF will continue to search for weapons wherever they are hidden.”

The JTF spokesman said one General Purpose Machine Gun, one Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG 7), one G3 rifle and some quantity of dynamite were recovered from the suspects.

He also appealed to the communities in the areas where the cordon and search missions were being conducted to understand the situation in the interest of the nation.

He stressed that the operation was not targeted at innocent citizens, but at criminals.

Abubakar said, “The JTF is calling for the patience and understanding of communities involved to enable us get rid of hoodlums in their midst, and the operation is ongoing depending on when we achieve peace and security in the areas concerned.”

But in a related development, the South-South Elders Forum has called for the withdrawal of the JTF in the Niger Delta because it had become an ‘army of occupation.’

Chief convener of the forum and the Northen Union, Chief Edwin Clark, said the JTF had become an irritant to the people of the region.

In another development, the controversy surrounding Monday’s killing of two of JTF’s soldiers in Bomadi, the headquarters of Bomadi Local Government Area of Delta State deepened on Thursday.

The Chairman of Bomadi LGA, Mr. Kelly Penawoe, and the lawmaker representing the council in the Delta State House of Assembly, Mr. Reginald Donbraye, said the JTF lied in its account of Monday’s incident.

The JTF had on Monday said some gunmen, described as frustrated illegal oil thieves, invaded its unit in Bomadi, killed two soldiers and injured another one.

But Penawoe and Dombraye said the authorities of JTF fabricated the report in order to cover the misdeeds of its officers in the location. They said the soldiers lost their lives in a shoot-out among the federal troops in the unit. They stated that the soldiers were drunk leading to a disagreement among them.

Meanwhile, the umbrella body of militants operating in the region, the Joint Revolutionary Council, has dissociated militants from Monday’s attack on the JTF at Bomadi.

The rebuttal was contained in an e-mail statement made available to our correspondent on Tuesday by the spokesperson of JRC , Cynthia Whyte.

The JRC which comprises the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, the Reformed Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force and the Martyrs Brigade, stated that its members were not responsible for the attack.

Whyte said in the statement, “We wish to dissociate ourselves from the recent engagement in the Bomadi area that resulted in the deaths of bandit soldiers of the armed forces of the Nigerian state.

“We are reliably informed that the death of the soldiers and injury to some others was a direct result of a misunderstanding that ensued during the sharing of ill-gotten largesse obtained from their involvement in crude oil theft and sales.”


http://www.punchontheweb.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art200901143143292

. . . . . . .everyone caught by the creeks is now a militant 
Those names doesnt sound ijaw-ish to me xcept the last guy.They cud be mere thiefs for all i know.

ifyalways:

. . . . . . .everyone caught by the creeks is now a militant 
Those names doesnt sound ijaw-ish to me xcept the last guy.They cud be mere thiefs for all i know.

wats the difference btw an armed robber and a militant.
One operates with fear in his mind,the other operates with impunity and even negotiates with the gov.,Plz

The JTF spokesman said one General Purpose Machine Gun, one Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG 7), one G3 rifle and some quantity of dynamite were recovered from the suspects.

. Based on the weapons found in their possesion, they are confirmed militants. However, those names are not Ondo State names at all. They should not draw Ondo into this please. Ondo has enough problems already.

The JTF spokesman said one General Purpose Machine Gun, one Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG 7), one G3 rifle and some quantity of dynamite were recovered from the suspects.

. Based on the weapons found in their possesion, they are confirmed militants. However, those names are not Ondo State names at all. They should not draw Ondo into this please. Ondo has enough problems already. Abeg o.

jamace:

. Based on the weapons found in their possesion, they are confirmed militants. However, those names are not Ondo State names at all. They should not draw Ondo into this please. Ondo has enough problems already. Abeg o.

Since you are well aversed with all the tribes and the names peculiar to the tribes in Ondo state, how come you missed the part that some communities in present day Ondo state are from the Ijaw tribe? I would therefore conclude that you are one of those ill-informed Nigerians (like most of our politicians) that talk and act before they think!

@ify

They are clearly Ijaw people. The profileration of arms in the area has turned almost every unemployed man into an oil thief. It is a disease that has eaten deep into the minds of the men in that area that will take many generations to clear.

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