GOVERNOR Emmanuel Uduaghan yesterday held a closed-door meeting with top retired military officers from Delta State and some Ijaw traditional rulers over military operation by men of the Joint Task Force (JTF) in Gbaramatu area of the state.
A source revealed that those who attended the two-hour meeting were Generals E. O. Obada, Patrick Aziza, Dominic Oneya and Alexander Ogomudia.
The development came as three groups, the Niger Delta Civil Society Coalition (NDCSC), Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) and the Niger Delta Youth Movement (NDYM) condemned the action on Gbaramatu, alleging plan by the Federal Government to exterminate the communities.
Uduaghan and the retired military chiefs, it was learnt, brainstormed on the way forward to achieve immediate peace in the affected riverine area.
The governor, according to the source, informed the Generals of all efforts being made to restore order and tackle the humanitarian challenges posed by the crisis. He also explained efforts being made to reach out to the youths through respected elders and youth leaders to cease all forms of confrontation and destruction of oil installations.
It was also learnt that Uduaghan urged the Generals to help appeal to the Federal authorities and the Military High Command to end hostilities.
At a separate meeting with the traditional rulers led by the Chairman of Ijaw Traditional Rulers Council, Agadagba of Egbema, the source said Uduaghan briefed them on the various initiatives of the state government to bring peace to the troubled area.
The Pere of Akugbene, Pere of Isaba, and the Amakosu of Ogbe Ijoh, Pere of Seimbiri, Pere of Oporomor and Pere of Ngbilebiri were among traditional rulers at the meeting. Others were Pere of Kabowei, Ibenanaowei of Iduwini and the Ibenanaowei of Obotebe.
The NDCSC cautioned that the aerial bombardment of Gbaramatu communities by the JTF is capable of undermining the President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s quest for peaceful resolution of the Niger Delta crisis.
The group gave the warning as MEND said two hostages suspected to be foreigners have been killed in the ongoing conflict with the JTF.
NDCSC Chairman and member of the Niger Delta Technical Committee, Anyakwee Nsirimovu, expressed shock over the killings and razing down of the communities by the JTF in a civilian administration.
He noted that the level of human rights abuses in the region by the government and military task forces has assumed a high level that merits international attention for necessary action by way of bringing pressure to bear on the government to humanely deal with the legitimate and just demands of the people of the region.
The NDCSC maintained that the conflict in the Niger Delta is about age-long gross and attested violations of cultural, social, economic, political and environmental rights of the minority citizens, beyond the orchestration of criminality and oil bunkering that deflate the fundamentality and community support for the genuine struggle for social justice.
Nsirimovu argued that the criminal response of the state to what was a peaceful agitation by the Ogoni social movement, led by the late Ken Saro-Wiwa, led to a change of strategy by the people who now genuinely believe that an imposed government holds no measure of security to their livelihood.
MEND spokesperson, Jomo Gbomo, revealed that two hostages have been killed during the indiscriminate shelling by the JTF and two others are still in their custody. He said the bodies of the dead men would be handed over to the Red Cross.
He said: “As promised, we have begun nibbling again at the oil infrastructure. Already, two major trunk pipe and gas lines, which were recently repaired, have been blown up. This is just the tip of the series of attacks we plan to carry out.”
MEND said for the JTF to declare victory, its troops must be able to secure every inch of pipelines and eliminate the over 500 camps stretching from Ondo to Akwa Ibom State in the Niger Delta. He accused the military of only successfully committing genocide against the Ijaw communities whose offence, he said, “is discovering oil in their backyards.”
Gbomo lampooned the JTF for indiscriminately bombing civilian communities using helicopter gunships and fighter jet planes.
According to him, the civilians should have been allowed to leave the area before the attack. This, he insisted, has simply shown that the government is insensitive to the plight of the Niger Delta people.
“The war is just beginning and by the time it ends, Nigeria will practice true federalism such as fiscal federalism which will benefit the entire populace,” he added.
Also, spokesman of the Joint Revolutionary Council (JRC), a coalition of militant groups in the Niger Delta, Cynthia Whyte, said it was now clear that President Yar’Adua’s gestures of peace “are deceitful and cannot be taken even with a pinch of salt.”
“We also wish to inform all men of goodwill that the Gbaramatu engagement was the result of years of exploitation driven by a cabal of serving and retired army generals of northern Nigeria who have been actively engaged in illegal oil bunkering in the creeks of Delta State,” she said.
And disturbed by the attack on the Delta communities, which they perceive could lead to more devastating repercussion for the nation, the NDYM has urged the militant groups and the members of JTF to lay down their arms and stop the hostilities.
In a statement by its president, Onengiye Elekima and made available to reporters in Abuja, the group accused the JTF of trying to exterminate the Gbaramutu Kingdom, which has in the past one week been reduced to a theatre of war by the JTF.
Elekima stated that the NDYM had written protest letters to President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, Vice President Goodluck Jonathan and the Senate President, among others.
NDYM also accused JTF of torturing and killing innocent people within the region, asking Yar’Adua to investigate their claims with a view to bringing to book anyone within the JTF found guilty.
The statement reads in part: ” The Niger Delta Youth Movement (NDYM) has viewed with serious concern the near-war situation in the Niger Delta, that is, Delta State in particular. It is saddened by the magnitude of destruction and loss of lives in the Gbaramatu Kingdom and calls for cessation of hostilities on both sides immediately.
“The NDYM hereby appeals to the youths in the Niger Delta to soft-pedal, lay down their arms as it has already registered the protest of the youths in the region with the Federal Government.”
Meanwhile, the JTF yesterday announced it has rescued three more expatriate hostages in its ongoing Cordon and Search operations in the Camp 5 and Chanomi Creek general area of Delta State.
This brings the total number of hostages so far rescued in its current operation to 13. They had earlier rescued six Filipinos and four Nigerians.
JTF spokesman, Col. Rabe Abubakar, also explained the continuing operations in the area, saying they were “targeted at criminals who made those areas (Camp 5 and Chanomi Creek areas) their abode and to rescue the remaining expatriates on board MT Spirit earlier hijacked by the militants. Efforts were being intensified to lay hands on what we are searching for in Chanomi Creek and its environs.
“The JTF is therefore asking all Niger Deltans, especially those in the villages where rescue missions are going on, not to be afraid but go about their legitimate businesses because military actions cannot deprive them of their freedom since doing so will not speak well of military image at home and abroad.”
Col. Abubakar also said JTF troops were attacked yesterday afternoon “while carrying out rescue mission at Kunukunuma village. In the process, heavy gun-battle ensued and majority of the militants were killed while two soldiers sustained minor injuries.”
He announced that the militant “Camp 5 has become history and all the equipment inside it has been reduced to rubbles and we are on the ground. We are controlling the place, it ceases to be Camp 5 for good.”