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****** Nigeria: N-Delta - Militants Set Up Parallel Government ******
Emma Amaize
24 January 2009
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Coordinator of the Joint Media Campaign Centre (JMCC) of the JTF, Effurun
Headquarters, Delta State, Colonel Rabe Abubakar confirmed to Saturday Vanguard
in Warri that indeed, the security outfit has received an avalanche of requests
from communities in the region to set up military bases in their areas to ward
off militants and other criminals, the task force was treating every request
with utmost care, knowing what its rules of engagement in the region specified.
His words, "Some communities have made requests for intervention by the JTF.
However, we cannot meet all the requests, it is not everywhere that the JTF
deploys troops, but, where we feel it is necessary, particularly, where there
is no troop at all, we will try to situate some troops around there or increase
the strength of the one near the place or we carry out proactive patrol".
But the spokesman of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger-Delta
(MEND), Jomo Gbomo in an interview with Saturday Vanguard, during the week,
said, "Those communities calling for the JTF are doing that with the prompting
of people who cannot see the bigger picture. They do not know the difference
between an army of occupation and a legitimate army".
He pointed out: "Calling on soldiers that rape, harass civilians, bunker oil
and crime as their guardian is ironic. The communities that feel the pain want
an Obama type change which only can be achieved by force".
On the other hand, the communities say they wear the shoe and know where it
pinches them. They said in a Save Our Soul to the JTF that they were prepared
to expose the militants to the task force if their approval for the
establishment of a military base is granted.
Investigations conducted by Saturday Vanguard showed that virtually all the
communities in the region, where militant camps are located were suffering in
silence, as the militants intimidate and harass the residents and anybody who
dared to challenge them would either be maimed or chased out of the community.
A traditional ruler in Bayelsa state was basically chased out of his kingdom by
a group of sea pirates and he wrote several petitions to the state government
and security agencies to curtail the excesses of the kingpin of the group, who
had the impudence to impose himself on his people as a their new king.
Presently in both Bayelsa and Delta states, a terrorist gang has, since last
year, made life horrendous for the people of Agge and its federated communities
to wit: Agge Okibou Zion, Youtu, Agge Okibou, Belle Zion, Okia, Usumaibio,
Solomon Zion, Agge Palm Bush, all within River Ramos, which is the boundary
between the Ekeremor and Burutu local government areas in both states.
At Opuama in Delta state, a bloc of communities, in a letter, entiled, "Request
for Military Personnels or Troops", urged the task force to deploy some
military personnel to Zuama Zion in Opuama bloc of communities on the 10th of
January, 2009 to maintain peace and orderliness during a community election".
The Agge terrorist gang, according to a report, available to Saturday Vanguard,
emerged under the guise of protecting Agge town and its communities from
further attack with the name, Agge Vigilante Group, but, at the moment, the
gang has metamorphosed into a parallel government and is, allegedly, in
constant conflict with the traditional administrative machinery of the Agge
federated communities' structure.
Some leaders of the community secretly contacted the JTF on the development and
urged the task force to set up a military base in Agge and it was also learnt
that the governors of the two states, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta) and Chief
Timipre Sylva (Bayelsa) states may have been contacted for assistance also. But
none of the governors could be reached as at press time to confirm if they were
in receipt of any complaint from the Agge federated communities on intimidation
by militants.
"The purported Agge Vigilante Group has also imported its criminal friends from
various militant camps in the Niger-Delta into our community and they wield and
brandish various typed of guns and dangerous weapons, which they fire at will
and sporadically, as their instruments of intimidation.
"They intimidate everybody and beat up whomsoever they want and for no
justifiable reason. Right now, our lives and properties that were left after
the 4th August, 2008 burning down of Agge is precariously hanging on the
balance because of the activities of this terrorist and criminal gang at Agge",
a community leader, who recently fled to Lagos told Saturday Vanguard.
According to the information at our disposal, the rampaging gang recently
seized the communities surveillance boat, a W23 roofed fibre-speedboat with
double 75 horsepower Yamaha engine provided by SPDC-West for the surveillance
of its oil facilities.
Said a source, "They have used this boat for a several criminal activities
within and outside the River Ramos in Delta, Bayelsa and beyond, this terrorist
gang also hijacked over three quarters (3/4) of the relief materials worth N30
million sent by Bayelsa state government to assuage the plight of our
traumatized people.
The same thing is happening to the relief materials sent by the National
Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to our community consequent upon the burning
down of the community on 4th August, 2008".
"It is also pertinent to inform you that this terrorist gang on several
occasions upturned the agreements reached between Agge community and the SPDC
on the repair of the 24 -inch Forcados to Brass Creek Trans-Ramos trunk line
and the block valve at Agge Okibou at River Damos and for over five times
without the consent, approval and authority of the Agge community.
This gang shut down the activities of the SPDC contractors (Newtech and
Daewoo), who were carrying out the said repair work without recourse to the
agreement between the community and SPDC on the repair for their selfish and
devilish reasons", he added.
The Delta Waterways Security Committee (DWSC) has been trying to manage the
backlash between the communities in that axis and the oil companies. The most
recent was the bombing of the Agip Oil Company delivery line at Okuntu ,
between Ogulagha and Odimodi in Burutu local government area of Delta state.
In a letter to the Governor of Delta State, requesting him to give the JTF
imprimatur to set up a military base in Agge, the people said, "We are
constrained to do this application to you because this terrorist gang is clear
and present danger to the community and they have been a steady source of
embarrassment and we have never approved of their being with us and thus can no
longer put up with them, as we are under siege and fear of our lives".
"Therefore, we urge you to act fast to direct the JTF, which is already abreast
with the security situation in the River Ramos area to establish a base at
Agge.
If the activities of this gang are not urgently curbed by the establishment of
the said military base, there shall be a spiral effect on the operations of the
SPDC in the River Ramos, Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission
(DESOPADEC), which currently runs a free medical service for Agge Okibou Zion
in Delta state and to the peace between our community and our neighbours of
Aghoro and Odimodi communities in Delta state", they said.
On the contention by the JTF that it was not everywhere it would deploy troops
to, the communities told the governor, "It is pertinent to inform you that this
application for a military base at Agge is without prejudice to the fact that
there is already an existing JTF military base at the River Ramos, which is
less than or about one kilometre from Agge community on the Delta side of the
Ramos.
The only constraint with this military base is that it is a Government/SPDC
initiative for the surveillance and protection of SPDC's 24d-inch Trans Ramos
trunk line and the block valve at Agge Okibou-Zion, thus, they are constrained
to get involved with the criminality in Agge and its federated communities".
Copyright © 2009 Vanguard. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global
Media (allAfrica.com).
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