The waterways in Delta State have been blocked as the troops of the Joint Task Force (JTF) continue with military operations to flush out militants in the hideouts.
This comes as governor Emmanuel Uduaghan on Saturday met behind closed door with top echelons of the task force, Ijaw leaders and other stakeholders in Warri.
The JTF on Friday announced the rescue of six Filipinos and four Nigerians in its offensive against militants. They were held hostage by the militants in their Camp Five in Delta State.
It also said it had recaptured the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) chartered tanker, MV SPIRIT and the cargo ship hijacked by militants at the Chanomi Creek in Delta State.
The JTF also said its troops have routed and captured the Camp Five militant camp.
Militants from the Camp had JTF troops along the Chanomi Creek. Also the hijackers of the vessel and ship came from there. The camp is led by one Tompolo.
Coordinator, Joint Media Campaign Centre, Col Rabe Abubakar said “the whole area around the Camp Five is under our JTF control. Everywhere is under control. The camp has been obliterated. Also, we have secured the NNPC chartered tanker, MV SPIRIT and the cargo ship hijacked by the militants. And the ship and vessel are intact. The militants now have got what they have been wishing for, a confrontation from JTF. And they are on the run.”
The NNPC chartered tanker was to deliver condensate but was hijacked by militants on Wednesday and diverted to Warri Port.
The cargo Ship, also hijacked by the same militants from Camp Five at Chanomi Creek, was also sailing to Warri.
The JTF, in announcing the offensive, said it was conducting a “Cordon and Search” operations, aimed at liberating the people of the Niger Delta from further intimidation, harassment and extortion.
It accused the militants of using freedom fighting to perpetrate criminalities in the region.
Colonel Abubakar had earlier alerted that in the search for the militants, “there could be serious gun battle which may cause the militants to flee to their main camps. And this may lead to our torching such camps.” And this the JTF did.
But the whereabouts of the Captain of the tanker, MV Spirit, Napoloen Empasis, which brought condensate to Warri before it was hijacked by militants at Chanomi creek and six other Filipinos were on Saturday yet to be ascertained.
The nine Filipinos and four Nigerians who were rescued during the military ”Operation Search and Rescue”, in Camp Five near Oporoza were brought to the shore with two of them sustaining bullet wounds and being treated.
They included, Kenneth Ekpo, Joel Villanneva, Akin Olayenju, Babalola Akeem, Cecilio Echivare, Ronaldo Charezma, Marciano Grantola, Lagura Nicholas, Nosa Okoro, Marcelo Epe, Francis Solvera, Ulysis Akut and Ernesto Flores.
One of the Nigerian crew, Akin Olayenju, described the experience as horrendous, but expressed gratitude to God for saving their lives, saying “I thank God. What we saw was too much because we carried PMS and if any bullet had hit it, it would have exploded.”
A Filipinos who gave his name as Ernestos Flores while recounting his ordeal expressed shock at the scope of the operation, saying that “it was very terrible.”
Commander, JTF, Major General Sarkin Yaki Bello, said categorically that his men would not rest on their oars as the time had come to put militancy out of the region.
Government, he stressed would no longer condone any group seizing a portion of the country and call it their own, saying that “we will kill as many of them that come.”
He said that the action of the military should be commended for dislodging the notorious Camp Five, adding that, “no responsible authority will allow such camp to exist.”
He confirmed the death of one soldier while putting the casualty rates of the militants on the high side.
Bello refuted allegations that some riverside communities were leveled by the troops of the JTF, saying that offensive was aimed at Camp Five where militant activities had been going for years now.
“No community has been sacked. But I will advise that people should not venture into the waterways because of the insecurity. Military operation is still going in that area,” he added.
He added that the task force has sacked the camp and has stationed military personnel there to check any reprisal by the militants.
Notorious leader of Camp Five, Government Ekpemepulo (a.k.a Tompolo) was feared killed during operations which lasted for hours.
Meanwhile, as part of measures to restore stability in the coastal communities between the JTF and some armed youths, Governor Uduaghan held a stakeholder consultative meeting in Warri with key personalities from the communities and some security operatives in the state.
The meeting sources said had in attendance the Deputy Governor, Professor Amos Utuamah, the Secretary to the State Government, Ifeanyi Okowa, the State Director of the SSS, Senator James Manager, (House of Representatives member for Warri Federal), Daniel Reyenieju, Honourable Solomon Funkekeme, erstwhile Deputy Govermer of the State, Chief Benjamin Elue, Chief Tunde Smooth, Chairman Warri South West George Ekpomupolo as well as some commissioners.
The meeting, it was learnt, reviewed the present situation and adopted a strategy to restore peace in the area.
Part of the decision arrived at was the need to prevail on the Military authorities and the Presidency to stop further action in the creeks.