Ijaw communities raise alarm over military build-up

Written by Emma Amaize
Thursday, 04 September 2008

FOUR host communities to the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) at the Forcados operation base in Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State, namely Agge, Ogulagha, Izon-Burutu and Agoro, yesterday, raised the alarm over the intimidating presence of military personnel in their areas, saying the people are afraid of their communities being razed.

But the Commander of the Joint Task Force (JTF) on the Niger-Delta, Brigadier-General Nanven Rimtip who quickly responded to the fears of arms build up by the military, yesterday, told Vanguard “We are rotating our troops and it is part of our security cover up for the SPDC in its re-entry programme”.

He said the presence of the military should not be misconstrued, as the soldiers were under instruction to ensure the security of every law-abiding citizens in the area.

Brigadier-General Rimtip said the only people the JTF only has issues to resolve with illegal oil bunkerers and other criminals whose activities were endangering the economy of the nation, adding, “I am completely against oil bunkering and that is why I am fighting those involved in it from all fronts”.

Spokesman of the affected communities, Chief Zion Perebowei who addressed newsmen in Warri under the auspices of ‘’Concerned Indigenes Against Forcados Settlements Oppression,” said they can no longer continue to fold their arms and allow the occupation of soldiers in their homeland in the name of maintaining law and order.

He said the women and children now live in fear on a daily basis, as they have to go to sleep seeing men in arms everywhere and wake up the next morning with the sight of soldiers who had taken over the strategic positions in their communities.

Chief Perebowei who demanded to know the rationale behind the continuous deployment of troops in their communities by the military authorities said the unprecedented arms build-up in their area has affected the psyche of his kinsmen, who now feels insecure in their homes.

He also alleged that soldiers were involved in illegal bunkering, saying some of them come in the midnights to offload products from barges seized from bunkerers into vessels and take the stolen crude oil to unknown destinations.