The authorities of the Joint Task Force on peace in the Niger Delta on Tuesday debunked claims that it intended to invade Bodo community in Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State.
The JTF�s spokesperson, Major Sagir Musa, who made this known in an exclusive interview with our correspondent in Port Harcourt, said that the army had no intention of invading communities in the state.
He said that the task force was not an army of occupation as currently misconceived by people in certain quarters, noting that the operations in Rivers State was constitutional.
Musa said that the military was empowered under the law to assist the civil authority in maintaining law and order, especially when the police prove incapable of doing so.
He said, �The Nigerian Army is a well-organised and well-disciplined institution, which is morally mindful of its constitutional responsibility to the people. By virtue of this, we have never seen ourselves as an army of occupation.
�Ours is just to restore law and order and we are constitutionally mandated to do this in any event where there is a break down of law and order. This is especially where the police seem to be incapable of containing such situations.
�We are not out to molest or kill anybody. We can only kill as a last resort and sometimes on self-defense.�
He, however, urged all those who possess arms and ammunitions illegally to voluntarily surrender them to the task force.
Even when it has intelligence report linking any community with cult-related activity, Musa said, the JTF would only capture the affected community with a view to recovering the arms.
Meanwhile, the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People on Tuesday asked the Federal Government to probe the violence in Rivers State. It said the investigation would unravel the masterminds of the raging cult violence and pave the way for peace in the state.
MOSOP President, Mr. Ledum Mitee, made the suggestion while speaking to journalists in Port Harcourt.
The Ogoni leader stated that the special commission was necessary to unravel the cause of the violence and bring unrepentant culprits to justice.
Mitee recommended that remorseful cult sponsors and patrons should be granted special amnesty and made to sign an undertaking to be of good behaviour.
He said, �In my view, taking soldiers to the streets is like treating the symptoms of an ailment without uprooting the disease itself. Without getting to the root cause of the violence in the state and their masterminds brought to book, the problem would resurface.
�We should deal with those who planted the boys and make the state almost ungovernable for many years and are now pretending as if all is well.
�Once there is credible evidence that any politician is responsible for the promotion of cult violence, he should be punished.
�Whether the government agrees or not we believe that this is the time for all to sit down together and find an answer to the crisis. We must also take steps to separate pure criminality from genuine community agitation.�
Mitee stated that military action could never solve the Niger Delta crisis and that it was wrong to take actions that suggested that Rivers State was under a siege when the legal requirements for such a state of infraction had not been adhered to.
Sep52007