Army mobilises troops against N’Delta militants
The exercise, codenamed “Exercise Crocodile Smile”, will be conducted at the 82 Division of the Nigerian Army, Enugu, as well as parts of 2 Division Areas of Responsibility (AORs). “The Nigerian Army will, from this weekend, commence another training exercise code named “Exercise Crocodile Smile” in 82 Division and part of 2 Division areas of responsibility traversing the South-South geopolitical region. ”
The aim of the exercise is to practice our Special Forces and other units of the Nigerian Army in Amphibious and Internal Security Operations in riverine environment and also check criminal activities like kidnapping, militancy and piracy and other forms of criminal activities in support of the civil authority. ”
The general public is please requested not to panic on the sight of unusual movement of large number of troops, heavy military weapons and equipment in these areas,” Usman said. Also, the Joint Military Force deployed to the Niger Delta, Operation Delta Safe, has restated its preparedness to deal with the renewed violence by militants in the oil-rich region. Rear Admiral Joseph Okojie, Commander of the operation, made this known at a news conference in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, yesterday.
Okojie said that the military had capacity to flush out militants, but were compelled to respect the dialogue option adopted by the Federal Government. The Defence Headquarters had scaled down military option and declared a ceasefire to pave way for dialogue with the militants. President Muhammadu Buhari had stated that the Federal Government was in talks with the Niger Delta militants.
Okojie, who said that the operation enjoyed the support of the military top brass and Commander-in- Chief of the Armed Forces, had been effectively curtailing collateral damage to oil infrastructure in the region.
But Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State has warned that the plan by the military to use maximum force in solving the crisis in the Niger Delta will not end militancy in the oil-rich region.
The governor stated this yesterday after holding a closed door meeting with President Buhari at the presidential villa, Abuja. He said rather than deploying military option, government should collaborate with relevant stakeholders to discuss how best the crisis could be resolved once and for all.
“I have said that the issues in the Niger Delta, the terrain, the historic nature of the issues and challenges are such that military solution may not be the way forward,” Dickson stressed. According to the governor, “For us who are products of political system who are at this level, we have a duty to mobilise communal and local leadership; we have a duty to support the work of intelligence and security agencies are doing; we have a duty to ensure that issues are better appreciated and that we fill the communication gap.
“And where there are issues, those issues need be addressed and it is also our duty to network like I’m doing to ensure that problems that are identified as the root cause of some of these challenges are looked into.”
Dickson emphasised that as far as he was concerned, using the military was not the best decision that government would take at this critical time. The governor, who confirmed that there were negotiations going on between the Federal Government and militants in the region, said: “The military solution, as I have always maintained, is not the right option.
“We are hopeful that the ongoing discussions will yield the desired result. I have always been in support of negotiations, of dialogue as the sustainable way forward. “Dialogue will bring out the issues and then we will all unite around these common issues to move our country forward.”
The Bayelsa State governor also disclosed that he was at the presidential villa to engage the president on issues bothering on insecurity in the region. Meanwhile, the Avengers yesterday asked President Buhari to start searching for oil wells in the Northern part of the country.
The group said with the current intelligence gathering of their agency, instead for them to bow to military pressure, the president must be prepared to kill innocent people of the region over their natural endowment.
The group maintained that the Federal Government was only using the proposed peace talks with militants in the region as a delay tactic to await the delivery of drones it intends to unleash on the region.
But the NDA advised the president to step up oil exploration in the Lake Chad basin, because “you will not be able to export one litre of crude in the Niger Delta” in few days to come.” NDA spokesperson, Brig.-Gen. Mudoch Agbinibo, in a statement he tagged, “Your Drones Won’t Stop Us”, which alleged that the Federal Government had been using his botched dialogue as a subterfuge, assured him that his drones from Europe and the United States of America (USA) would fail him.
“The NDA intelligence agency gathered that the said peace talk or dialogue by the Federal Government is a delay tactic employed by the Federal Government to enable their purchased drones that are being expected by end of August from the United States.
“Also note that you will not be able to export one litre of crude in the Niger Delta, just intensify the oil exploration in the North- East. As for the ones in the Niger Delta, forget about it because the Nigerian government won’t export a drop from our land,” the statement read.
While querying the avowed unity of the Ni-geria, the group said, “This whole thing makes us to wonder what kind of country this is. We can all see that President Buhari-led government is a fraud. They are not serious about any dialogue and made it seem the Niger Delta Avengers are the ones not ready for dialogue.
“Mr. President, you can purchase all the drones in Europe and the United States, it will not stop the Niger Delta Avengers from bringing the country’s economy to zero. The worst you can do is to kill poor innocent people which the military is good at, but know that the Nigerian economy will suffer,” the militants stated.
