The rampaging Niger Delta Avengers has provided a grisly account of how 50 Nigerian soldiers deployed to the Niger Delta Region to protect oil and gas facilities died in the creeks.
In a statement on its Tweeter handle, the group slammed the Chief of Army Staff, Major General T Y Burutai deployed men lacking amphibious training to the Niger Delta creeks.
The group explained that they drowned in the creeks without being attacked and that but for fishermen, those dead would have risen to 100 soldiers, adding that the military lied when it said Niger Delta Avengers killed the soldiers.
NDA said it would be proud to accept responsibility if the ND Avengers were responsible and challenged the military to a gun duel.
Meanwhile, tension is mounting in the state between the Ijaw and Itsekri ethnic groups over military invasion of Gbaramatu communities.
The Ijaws have accused their Itsekiri neighbours of being behind their travail as the latter was fuelling pipeline vandalism and prompting the military to invade their communities.
‘’It is also imperative to raise the alarm that an ethnicity crisis is looming in the Delta creeks because the enemies of the kingdom are the ones fuelling the pipeline vandalism and military invasion’’, a prominent community leader, Comrade Sheriff Mulade, alleged, adding that ‘’It is clear from the ongoing assaults and mindless abuse of human rights that the intention of the Nigerian Army is to wipe out everything that has live in Gbaramatu kingdom.’’
The people have cried to the federal government over the invasion of communities by the military searching for rampaging militants, saying that the development has affected the ongoing school certificate examinations organized by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and National Examinations Council (NECO) in the area.
Leaders of the communities averred that several students who ran into the bush because of the invasion were yet to be accounted for, adding that the academic session has been entirely disrupted.
They stated that because of the prevailing situation all schools in the area have been shut down, appealing to both the federal and state governments to step in and arrest the dire situation.
Besides, the communities also appeal to the marauding Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) to stop the mindless bombing of pipelines, as according to them, apart from causing a dip in crude production, the ecosystem is badly affected and this will pave the way for the continued occupation of the region by the military.
They said it was unfortunate that the hosting of oil and gas installation was becoming a curse rather than a blessing to the communities, claiming that these communities were completely neglected and their environment bastardized as a result of many years of oil exploration and exploitation activities.
But they maintained that ‘’no amount of intimidation and harassment of our people by the military will make us to run away from our land’’.
They cautioned the military to thread softly on their search for Avengers in order not to hurt innocent citizens and use more of intelligence and professionalism in their search for the renegades.
