Tension yesterday gripped some states of the Niger Delta region over the alarm raised by Joint Military Task Force (JTF) over the plot by some aggrieved ex-militant leaders to attack oil facilities operated by the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).
The warning by the JTF is coming barely few days after ex-militant leaders in Bayelsa State showed sign of division over the threat by a group led by Commander Africa Ukparisia, threatening to return to the creeks over the alleged use of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to hound the officials of the state government on the alleged misappropriation of over N150billion fund.
LEADERSHIP gathered yesterday that the intelligence report available to the JTF headquarters in Yenagoa showed an unusual movement and meetings of ex-militant leaders and their followers in some parts of Bayelsa, Port Harcourt, Rivers State and Warri in Delta State.
A security source told LEADERSHIP yesterday that the intelligence report, though with details guarded, may have indentified some of the ex-militants involved and have raised powerful monitoring team to “shadow” their movement and those alleged sponsors.
But what the military sources could not disclose are the reasons behind the planned attack but LEADERSHIP gathered that it may not be unconnected with the delay by the Federal Government to implement the post amnesty plan and the political struggle among power blocs in the region ahead of the 2011 elections.
In the statement issued yesterday by the headquarters of the JTF through its Joint Media Coordinator, Lt. Col. Timothy Anthiga, the plot is being hatched by certain persons and it is targeted at inflicting serious damage on SPDC facilities in the Niger Delta region.