The Joint Military Task Force(JTF) has distanced itself from the recent detention of some journalists, community leaders from Iwhrekan and a term of Environmental Rights Action(ERA) members on a visit to Utorogun Gas Plant, in Ughelli South. The group were detained at the plant site from 2.30pm to 6.45pm, Niger Delta STANDARD gathered that it was some security officers working for Shell who gave the wrong impression to the JTF troop that the Journalists were militants.
The detained Journalists which included Niger Delta STANDARD, warri Correspondent, were reporters from Edo , Rivers, Akwa Ibom and the federal government owned NTA. The JTF Commander, Brigadier General Nanvem Rimtip told the group when they paid a courtesy call on him in his office a Effurun after their ordeal, that he was not aware of the true situation until later in the day and he ordered his men not to get involved in the saga.
He said it was his intervention also that facilitated the release of the group by Shell Security officers who claimed that the group should have obtained written permission before visiting the gas plant even though at the gas plant journalists took photograph of some community women drying the local cassava meal unmolested. The group led by some community leaders went to the gas flare site unmolested by Shell security officials on an environmental impact assessment mission. It was only when they were told that journalists were among them filming the polluted gas flare area that they became hostile and directed the detention of the entire group Speaking, the JTF Commander appealed to ERA to direct their campaign for clean environment in the Niger Delta region to vandals whose activities was currently threatening the livelihood of most of the communities in the region.
General Rimtip said the JTF was prepared to partner with ERAin that direction so that the communities would be educated on the dangers of pipeline vandalism to the present and future generation stressing the need for the communities to report all vandals and bunkerers to the JTF. He vowed to stamp out these criminal activities in the region despite comments by some disgruntled elements that he was too hard on them saying that their activities was not of the best interest to the region and the nation in general.
The ERA legal director, Mr. Chima Williams who led the term promised to partner with JTF to end all forms of environmental degradation in the region. He explained the mission of ERA which he said included the stoppage of gas flare in Nigeria . According to him, gas flare had been declared illegal by a federal high court and that all over the world, gas flare was no longer fashionable due to the untold damage to the environment by such activity.