The Federal Government has beefed up security at oil installations in parts of Delta State, following renewed threats to law and order particularly in Warri North Local Government Area.
THISDAY gathered that there was sporadic shooting by unidentified gunmen suspected to be Ijaw militants in the area yesterday (Wednesday) morning.
The shooting, coming barely two weeks after militants attacked Olero and Didi flow stations belonging to oil giant, Chevron has sent fears down the spine of residents in some the riverside communities in Warri North.
THISDAY checks revealed that the new wave of attacks and sporadic shooting were preceded by various threats and ultimatum issued by some Ijaw groups, including the Ijaw Youth Council, demanding an immediate end to alleged lopsided allocation of political positions between the Ijaw and Itsekiri ethnic groups making up the local government area.
The Ijaw groups have asked Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, an Itsekiri who hails from the local government area to use his exalted position to correct the said political and electoral imbalance by ensuring the Ijaw produce the next council chairman for the area.
A group of Ijaw youths, under the aegis of the �Deadly Underdogs�, claimed responsibility for the attack on the Chevron facility, during which several guns belonging to the security Joint Task Force (JTF) were captured.
However, the seized weapons were eventually recovered within days following the intervention of the Delta Water Ways Security Committee (DWSC) and intense security surveillance mounted by the JTF in the area.
Explaining why they have resorted to the extreme measures to drive home their point on alleged political marginalization, Comrade Okoro Owei, Commander of the group, said there were plans to continue to deny Ijaws even a first-time occupation of the chairmanship of the Warri North Council in 17 years.
�We will hence forth go all out to wreak havoc on oil installations and other federal government concern as Government has refused to listen to our request,� Owei warned, adding, �We will stop at nothing than to make the State ungovernable until our demands are met.
�Besides, our grouse is that Ijaw man be made the chairman of the Warri North local government Council; we want a share of the security vote from DESOPADEC while free medical care be extended to Egbema Kingdom as well as the payment of compensation to Opuama Community that suffered severe devastation when men of the Joint Military Task Force (JTF) launched an offensive against the defenceless people a forth night ago,�he said.However, the JTF Commander, Brig�Gen Naven Rimtip, warned that the JTF would not condone any threats from any lawless group whatsoever, which undermines the prevailing atmosphere of public peace and order in the area.In a statement on his behalf by the military spokesman, Major Omale Ochagwuba, the JTF Commander stressed that the security personnel would not succumb to intimidation or blackmail form any quarters, saying they would not be distracted from carrying out its national assignment of helping to maintain peace and order in the Niger-Delta region.
May12008