THE lingering crisis in the restive Niger Delta region appears to have entered a second stage as the Nigerian Army, on Saturday evening, commenced the movement of some brand-new armoured tanks into the region. The development has heightened apprehension in most parts of the region.
About 24 of such armoured tanks were noticed to be on their way to the region in what a military source called a land containment measure.
But the Joint Task Force (JTF) has assured residents that there is nothing to fear in the movement of military equipment, saying it was for their safety.
Although it could not be officially confirmed if the latest deployment was in reaction to security reports that militants were planning to attack more oil installations in the region, even as they have reportedly planned to invade strategic media outfits in the region to make unwholesome announcements, it was learnt that oil giant, Chevron, might have secretly ordered a security alert.
Meanwhile, in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, residents live in fear amid new security measures put in place by the JTF, as a police constable and a man in his early 20s were killed by gunmen in separate locations in the city.
The deployment of the armoured tanks is coming barely 24 hours after the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) attacked Chevron’s Makaraba-Utonana-Abiteye pipeline.
A statement from MEND’s spokesman, Jomo Gbomo, had also warned of a possible attack on the strategic Escravos Chevron Tank Farm, a development that reportedly made the top hierarchy of Chevron to panic in the face of the JTF’s assurances of protection.
A highly-placed military source, who spoke to the Nigerian Tribune on condition of anonymity, confirmed the deployment of the military equipment. He, however, declined to give the exact number of armoured tanks to be deployed in the region.
But at about 6.30 p.m. on Saturday, our correspondent saw 12 military carriers with two new armoured tanks on each of them at Owan village, in Ovia North-East Local Government Area of Edo State, on the Owo-Benin expressway.
The 12 carriers were accompanied by three army trucks with a few soldiers on board each. Occupants of four other light pick-up vans behind the carriers could not be identified as the windows of the vehicles, painted in army green, were all tinted.
“It is true that some equipment had to be deployed in the region to further strengthen our positions, if need be, there would be more deployment in the area, because the nation cannot take chances as some lawless individuals decide to take the law into their own hands; the security forces have a duty to ensure that our collective economic interests are protected and not sabotaged by those who live in deceit.
We are ready for them too. Who says these criminals will not move upland to continue their nefarious activities? So the equipment is meant to contain the militants in the upland,” he said.
Efforts to confirm from the JTF commander, Major-General Sarki Yaki Bello, were not fruitful as he referred the Nigerian Tribune to the outfit’s spokesman, Colonel Abubakar Rabe, who said there was nothing unusual about whatever equipment movement was noticed in the region.
“There is nothing too unusual about the said movement. I am not in a position to confirm whether or not armoured tanks are being deployed in the Niger Delta; but what I can say is that whatever you noticed on the part of our men or equipment around the region is very well. It is routine and for the safety of law-abiding citizens who need the protection of the nation against criminals, who parade themselves as freedom fighters and engage in the molestation of innocent citizens.
“The JTF is ready for these hoodlums, either on land, sea or anywhere; it is our duty to fish them out wherever they are and not to toy with innocent lives, who may become their targets as they lose grip of their camps in the creeks,” Rabe told Nigerian Tribune on the telephone.
Meanwhile, the security situation in Yenagoa, deteriorated on Thursday night with the killing of a police constable and another youth in the state capital. The state commissioner of police, Onuoha Udeka, who confirmed the development, said investigations were ongoing to unravel the perpetrators of the acts.
While the policeman was shot dead at the OMPADEC area in Amarata, the youth was murdered around 7.00 p.m. on Thursday evening in front of his residence at Ovom, Yenagoa, while playing draughts.
This is the third case of shooting in the state capital in the last two weeks. Only last week, Governor Timipre Sylva’s Special Assistant on Peace and Conflict Resolution, Mike Wenobowei, narrowly escaped death as unknown gunmen riddled his vehicle with bullets. He is currently at an undisclosed hospital receiving treatment from gunshot injuries.
In a related development, indigenes of Letugbene in Ekeremor Local Government Area of Bayelsa State have deserted the community following threat of reprisals by suspected militants from the Camp of General Boyloaf over the arrest of some of their colleagues by the JTF last week.
Chairman of the community, Prince Jude Boukeme, who raised the alarm on Sunday, has appealed to the JTF to provide security for his people.
The problem of the community arose from their arrest of some sea pirates in the area last Friday, who they handed over to the special security outfit. Those who escaped later called for assistance from Boyloaf’s camp. The militants, thereafter, engaged the JTF troops in a gun duel in an attempt to rescue their colleagues.
Nigerian Tribune learnt that the militants killed a Letugbene chief and two others in the process with a threat to destroy the village.
Prince Boukeme told the Nigerian Tribune in Warri, on Sunday, that the claim by General Boyloaf that the community set him up against the JTF was not true.
“From the mere threat of reprisal from Boyloaf, Letugbene indigenes have started running away for dear lives and there is no JTF base in the community. That is why we are requesting for a JTF station in Letugbene now to protect us from this imminent attack from Boyloaf and his boys,” Boukene said.