Reactions on Thursday trailed the leakage of the report of the Joint Task Force in the Niger Delta Operation Restore Hope, to militants in the region as the Ijaw ethnic nationality group warned the Federal Government not to launch any attack on its communities.
The ethnic group said the use of military action to dislodge the Niger Delta warlords from their dens in the creeks of the region would be counter-productive.
The group asked the Federal Government to stop the implementation of the report by the JTF.
The Ijaw described the planned military action by the JTF as �unwarranted, nonsense, foolish and unproductive.�
The group said it was a ploy by the JTF to perpetuate its stay in the region.
A report prepared by the Commander of JTF, Maj.-Gen. Lawrence Ngubane, to the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Owoye Azazi, on a likely military option to tackle the security exigencies in the region, was leaked to the warlords. The militants later released the document to the media.
The Ijaw National Leader, Chief Edwin Clark, who reacted to the report on behalf of his kinsmen, said, �The report was uncalled for, unwarranted, there was no need for it. The JTF was asked to maintain peace here (Niger Delta). It was not ordered to declare war on the people in the creeks.
�But they (JTF) know very well, as they admitted in the report, if you attack 500 youths, another 1,000 will come out, how do they settle that problem? The boys will retire into the bush and what will happen will be more than what they are trying to cope with.
�So it will be nonsense, unproductive and foolish on the part of the JTF to launch any attack in Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta states.�
Clark, who made the position of the Ijaw on the issue known during an interview with our correspondent, asked the Federal Government to dump the report, adding that there was no reason for it.
He added, �My advice to the Federal Government is to ignore it. The government must stop it. The Minister of Defence, the Chief of Defence Staff and the Chief of Army Staff should stop it. They should come together and tell them not to do it, because the JTF wants to stay and once the youths are attacked, there will be no end to it.
�And that will enable them to stay longer and enable them to make money. This is what the former governors were doing with them, they used security funds in the name of maintaining the JTF.
�All we are saying is that it is now time for the army to be withdrawn gradually and not to become an army of occupation in the area.�
Clark, however, pleaded with the militants to sheathe their swords and embrace dialogue, adding that they should refrain from acts capable of worsening the security situation in the region.
Specifically, he said President Umaru Yar�Adua was committed to the development of the region. He urged the militants to allow him to unfold and implement his agenda for the area.