There were indications on Saturday that the Presidency might have shelved the planned military offensive against militants in the Niger Delta.
In the alternative, the Presidency has asked the troops put on red alert at the the creeks hosting strategic oil installations to act only whenever the militants either confronted them or attacked oil platforms under their guidance.
Sunday Punch gathered that the Presidency would only press ahead with the planned military operation on the condition that the militants failed to cease fire.
The Presidency asked the authorities of the Joint Task Force in the Niger Delta, otherwise known as Operation Restore Hope, not to take any action in the region pending the outcome of the political initiative aimed at resolving the lingering crises in the region.
It was gathered that JFT was directed to maintain a low profile pending the outcome of the planned Niger Delta peace summit aimed at seeking the way forward for the region.
Findings showed that the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Owoye Azazi, asked the security agency comprising the armed forces, the Nigerian Police Force and State Security Service, to launch attacks only when it was provoked by the militants.
The sources at 93 Battalion, Effurun, Delta State, the headquarters of JTF, told our correspondent that Azazi, who supervises the operations of the security outfit, only directed the troops to be on stand-by at the coastal communities of the restive region.
President Umaru Yar�Adua ordered an offensive against the recalcitrant militants following a premeditated attack on Bonga oilfields belonging to the Anglo-Dutch oil firm, Shell Petroleum Development Company. It is located at 60 nautical miles off the high sea in Bayelsa State.
A reliable source in JTF, however, said that the Presidency ordered the troops to remain vigilant and prevent fresh attacks on the oil facilities in the region, adding that there was no express order to the security agency to launch retaliatory attacks on the militants.
The source said, �The CDS has directed the JTF not to launch any attack yet unless there is any provocation from the militants.
�We (JTF) have been directed by the CDS to only remain on red alert, to keep the troops on stand-by in the creeks. The troops will not confront them as we have been asked to return fire for fire only in the event that the militants either attack us or destroy any of the major oil platforms in the region.�