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War on hoodlums: Niger Delta youths rally for
Odili
•Military raises task force
YOUTHS
roundly condemned for their role in the orgy of violence which has rocked Rivers
State lately, have declared that peace had returned to the oil-rich state.
Meanwhile, Defence Headquarters has raised
a special task force to combat armed insurgency by local militia in the area.
The Congress of Niger Delta Youths (CNDY)
rose from an "appraisal meeting" in the Rivers State capital, Port Harcourt
Tuesday night, declaring that disruption of socio-economic activities has given
way to peace.
Rivers State, especially Port Harcourt and
environs, had erupted in a deluge of armed brigandage in which scores of
innocent citizens were mowed down by bands loosely tagged "cultists."
Consternation over the then seeming
unending massacres had led Gov. Peter Odili to angrily sack the entire state
executive council, ostensibly dissatisfied with inability of the main organ of
government to stem the tide of violence.
However, a pressure group, Niger Delta
Civil Society Coalition (NDCSC) had charged that politicians were to blame for
the brigandage.
But, Gov. Odili had fired back, saying
that external interests were sponsoring the mayhem even as he gave all manners
of gangsters in the state 24 hours within which to turn in their arms or be
ready for government’s all-out war against them.
On Tuesday, however, Niger Delta groups
appeared to have agreed with the government when their "amalgamation of all
youth bodies in the Niger Delta " declared that promoters of the killings had
been oil bunkering kinpins whose sole aim had been to blame "cultism" to steer
attention away from their flourishing business.
Indeed, Gov. Odili had pointedly accused
certain interests in Rivers’ neighbouring states of sponsoring the killings, to
dent the state’s rising profile.
"The majority of those who perpetrated
these crimes are mainly imported from outside the state, with a few Rivers sons
showing them the way to destroy the state; they are funded by people in
privileged positions in nearby states, to protect certain interests," the
governor had lamented.
"Government has reached the crossroads (in
this matter of security) and, having been so confronted, it is time to show that
it is responsible for the protection of lives and property."
Now, the Congress of Niger Delta Youths
declares that, "the disruption of socio-economic activities in Rivers State is
coming to an end."
The group, in a statement from its
Mannabali Street base in Port Harcourt, signed by its president Mr. Mfon Joe
Etukudoh said a group it sent on a "working tour" of the area had observed that
life was returning to normal.
It said that the hoodlums who had been
parading themselves as freedom fighters were indeed hired with a mandate to
cause grief in Rivers State and sabotage its economic and political equilibrium.
CNDY condemned a platform it called the
Niger Delta Volunteer Group as the decoy of those bent on giving the region a
bad name.
"The display of sophisticated weapons by
any group (outside those authorised by law) amounts to a declaration of war - a
coup against the entire government of President Olusegun Obasanjo," CNDY said.
The group commended Gov. Odili, who had
cut short a two-week vacation abroad to attend to the problem, for the actions
he had taken to stem the tide of violence and restore the people’s confidence in
the system.
Yesterday Army public relations officer,
for the 2 Brigade, Port Harcourt Capt. Onyema Kanu disclosed in a press release
made available to Daily Champion, the emergence of the military task
force.
The joint task force code named "Operation
Flush Out 3" replaces the existing joint "internal security operations" in the
state.
The task force comprises the Army from 2
Brigade, Navy from NNS Pathfinder, the Air Force of 97 Special Operations group
and other government security agencies in Rivers State.
Commander 2 Brigade, Nigerian Army, Brig.
Gen. Zakariah Yaduma is the head of the task force which has its co-operational
headquarters at the Brigade headquarters in Port Harcourt.
Kanu stated that the Joint Task Force has
a mandate to cleanse the state of all forms of banditry and to guarantee
security of lives and property and restoration of law and order.
Members of the public, the release advised
should fully co-operate with the new task force in its resolve to rid the state
of armed gangsterism.
According to Kanu, there will be
reinforced movement of military helicopters and other security agencies and the
public should not be scared.
Also, all enquiries regarding the
activities of the task force should be directed to the 2 Brigade headquarters,
Port Harcourt.
Last Tuesday, there was an air, land and
sea raid of Ogbakiri town in Emohua local government area.
During the raid which was a demonstration
of superior power of the joint military team no property was destroyed.
Same Tuesday, there was an exercise by the Nigerian Navy
around Borokiri area to demonstrate the force’s preparedness to combat the
militia who operate through the numerous creeks and water ways in the state.
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