A centenarian and an octogenarian were shot dead as the Joint Military Task Force [JTF] in the troubled Niger Delta region intensified the onslaught on Ijaw communities suspected to have provided a safe haven for fleeing militants at the weekend.

In a surprise aerial and amphibious attac on Benikurukuru and Ekoteama communities located on the fringes of the Escravos River, over half of the structures were allegedly reduced to rubble as JTF troops using a helicopter gunship and several gunboats launched a deadly offensive, which began at about 10.am and lasted for three hours.

Although, the exact figure of casualties could not be ascertained as at the time of filing this report, a 102-year-old man whose name was given as Pa Ziten Juweigha was allegedly consumed by a ferocious bomb. Several of other villagers including an 85-year-old man also allegedly lost their lives at Ekoteama village, apart from those said to be missing.


Daily Sun learnt that the late Pa Ziten had miraculously escaped penultimate Friday from Oporoza, his hometown, during the initial raid on the community, and had sought refuge at Dabiogbene, a fishing camp close to Benikurukuru. Ironically, he was caught down in cold blood in his place of refuge, aborting his spirited effort for survival.


Eyewitness accounts said the centenarian’s body was shattered as a bomb exploded close to his temporary place of abode, a make-shift thatched hut where he breathed his last in the early hours of Saturday. Described as perhaps the oldest man in Gbaramatu Kingdom, Pa Ziten’s remains were still said to be lying at the scene of the incident as at Sunday morning.


Sources said the killings came barely 72 hours after an unidentified octogenarian was shot dead when JTF troops revisited Oporoza community to raze down what was left of the houses and other property after the earlier attack on Friday, May 15.


Meanwhile, natives of Benikurukuru and other neighbouring villages are pointing the finger at Chevron, a multi-national American oil firm over Saturday’s attack, an allegation vehemently denied by a senior official of the oil company when Daily Sun sought his reaction on the development.


“It is not true that part of the troops took off from Chevron to attack Benikurukuru and other communities as it is being alleged. It is also not true that Chevron had marked down some communities as being problematic to its operations. As far as I know, we are a responsible corporate citizen and would not go out of our way to inflict pain and sorrow on innocent villagers,” the official who would not want his name in print told Daily Sun on telephone on Sunday.