ARUGBO community in Ondo State, yesterday, dismissed the claim by the Joint Task Force (JTF) on the Niger-Delta that 1,000 militants were being trained in the environment for the purpose of launching fresh hostilities in the region, saying it is a ploy by the task force to wipe it out.
Coordinator of the Joint Media Campaign (JMC) of the JTF, Lt. Col Rabe Abubakar, had, in a statement, Friday, disclosed that a coalition of militant groups in the region had joined forces and set up a militant camp at Arugbo community “in order to train about one thousand newly recruited youths with the aim of resuming hostilities against the JTF and oil and gas installations in the New Year with a view to destabilize the oil-rich region for their self –seeking recognition and enrichment”.
But some leaders of the community, notably, the secretary of the Presidential Committee on Peace and Conflict Resolution in the Niger-Delta, Hon. Kingsley Kuku, called Sunday Vanguard, yesterday, accusing the JTF of fabricating the tale.
Kuku said, “JTF is planning to kill our people, there is no militant camp in Arugbo community and there is no training going on for militant youths in the community, what I can deduce very clearly from the statement is that the JTF is planning how to attack Orugbo. I want to tell you that I am from Arugbo community, it is a peaceful community. At present, we are mourning our royal father who departed to meet his ancestors and we abhor guns there. It is now clear from this false accusation that the JTF has been telling lies all these while concerning the issue of militants in some communities in the Niger-Delta, all in its bid to destroy the villages”, he said.
Kuku challenged the JTF and other security agents to actually prove that militants were undergoing training in Arugbo, saying, “I offer to take them to the community and they can search from house to house to locate the militants and their weapons”.
“There is no such thing in Arugbo, it is all lies”, he insisted, adding, “The JTF is blacklisting the community with a pre-planned agenda to attack the town and we say no to such blackmail, Arugbo is a peaceful community, the JTF should stop manufacturing problem in the Niger-Delta to justify its continued stay in the region”.
A legal practitioner from Arugbo who spoke to Sunday Vanguard on the condition of anonymity said, “I just read the report in Saturday Vanguard in which the JTF claimed that a joint militant camp had been set up at Arugbo community by an amalgamation of militant groups in the Niger-Delta, I want to tell you that it is not true, it is a lie, it is a calculated design by the task force to invade the community and kill the people to make the Federal Government and their sponsors know that they are working”.
“We are raising alarm now because we don’t want anybody to attack our community for no cause. President, Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua should call the task force to order before they unleash any mayhem on the innocent people of Arugbo”, he said.