A group of militants operating under the name Coalition for Militant Action (COMA) has claimed killing four soldiers of the Joint Task Force in Degema, Rivers State in retaliation of the killings in Cawthorn channel of Niger Delta youths.
This claim is coming on the heels of the lamentation of the facilitator of the Niger Delta Peace Forum, Mr. Moses Siloko Siasia of the refusal of State and Federal government to sponsor their efforts at making the armed youths drop their weapons which he blamed for the upsurge in clashes between the youths and security forces
The militants who also threatened more attacks on the Task Force, especially members of the armed forces who participated in the said attack where at least two of the militants were gunned down said there was no hiding place for any one who shed Niger Delta blood. COMA claimed to have compiled the list of those to come under their hammer list because of their activities against their youths which the militants said were only trying to fend for themselves before they were murdered. �We wish to inform you all that the four soldiers who were taken out in the Degema area of Rivers state were attacked in response to the cold blooded killing our some youths of Ijaw stock in the Cawthorne Channel area by men of the security forces of the Nigerian state.
�We are still haunting for other members of the Joint Task Force who perpetrated that dastard act. We will also take them out in cold blood. This has nothing to do with the elections. It has everything to do with the stupid attempt by the armed forces of the Nigerian state to undermine the potency of those who today lead the agitation for a liberated Niger Delta.
�We have been able to get the names of all members of the JTF team that carried out the cold blooded murder of the young men who were only trying to earn a living in the harsh reality of the poverty that the Nigerian state has unleashed on our people. No one will be spared in this onslaught. No one will be forgiven. You will hear more in the next few days�, their spokesman, Alaye Timi said. The Peace Forum said that with the coming Presidential polls, there was the tendency of increased attacks by the youths and regretted that their advise on how to demobilize them were totally ignored. Siasia carpeted politicians for drawing the hand of the clock back by putting weapons in the hands of the youth, pointing out that in a situation they do not have money to keep the boys in camp, the tendency becomes higher for them to fall into the temptation of the working for the politicians. In a statement, Siasia said that they have held several peace forum where they visited several camps of the groups and harped it in on them that they should lay down their arms and pursue a peaceful means of achieving their Niger Delta objectives.
He listed the places they have held workshops as Okrika, Tombia, Ogbogoro, Oporoma, Ekremor, and Gbaramatu as places where they had addressed the issues of militancy and were making gains before the financial drawbacks. �. The reformed youths expressed their willingness to remain agents of peace however, they complained over inability of the Niger Delta peace forum to provide them with the opportunity for daily sustenance, the forum initiated some strategies that will enable them achieve a desired objective particularly making sure the presidential elections will be peaceful�, he said.
Apr162007