Military declares war on Niger Delta Militants

The military has declared a war on militants in the Niger Delta over their reported renewed bombing of oil and gas pipelines in the region.
Indeed, the military authorities have already deployed a team of soldiers, naval officers and other security operatives to the creeks of the Niger Delta to fish out those responsible for the bombing of the critical oil and gas pipelines in the region.
Residents of some of the affected areas confirm that “there are gunboats everywhere”.
The Commander of Operation Pulo Shield, Maj.-Gen. Alani Gafar Okunlola, said:
“We are going to fish out those responsible... for this sabotage of our critical national assets”. For the fourth day running, the militants, who regrouped in some oil-producing states, especially in Delta State, have launched persistent attacks on pipelines belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Nigeria Gas Company (NGC).
Disturbed by the development, the Joint Task Force (JTF), codenamed Operation Pulo Shield, vowed to fish out the militants who blew up several oil and gas installations in the region on Friday night.
The AUTHORITY learnt that the militants bombed some oil installations both on Saturday and on Sunday with Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs).
Among the facilities blown up by the militants are the main crude line from Makaraba through Otunana and Abiteye to Escravos and the Olero to Escravos gas line.
The former was destroyed on Friday night while the latter was attacked in the early hours of Sunday.
Also yesterday, the militants blew up major crude oil and gas pipelines belonging to the Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL) Tank Farm in Warri South West Local Government Area of the state.
The first attack occurred on Thursday when the militants reportedly bombed the Escravos-Warri-Abuja-Lagos pipelines. Some Itsekiri living in the affected area raised the alarm, warning that the situation, if not checked, could lead to another Ijaw-Itsekiri crisis.
The JTF warned that it would hold community leaders where oil and gas facilities are sabotaged responsible for such acts.
The Commander of Operation Pulo Shield, Maj.-Gen. Okunlola, led journalists yesterday to one of the sites where the suspected militants blew up the oil facilities at Egwa1, Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State. He described the resurgence of militant activities in the region as unacceptable and promised to bring those behind the attacks to book.
He said: “The pipeline was blown up three days ago. We are going to fish out those responsible. It is a national sabotage of our critical asset. There is no way we can fold our arms and allow the perpetrators to get away with it.”
According to him, the attacks were not only criminal but capable of undermining national security. The commander called on both the state government and community leaders to assist security agencies flush out the criminals from the region.
Gen. Okunlola warned those behind it to desist from further attacks on oil and gas facilities or be ready to face the consequences.
The JTF boss was accompanied on the visit by Brig.-Gen. F. Yahaya, Commodore Raimi Mohammed (Commander, NNS Delta), Lt. Col. Igwe Patrick Omoke (Commander, 3 Battalion, Effurun). OdumakThe
AUTHORITY observed that many villages in the creeks have been deserted by residents as there was no visible movement of persons in the busy Warri/Escravos route.
Some Ijaw community leaders in Gbaramatu Kingdom, Warri South West Local Government Area confirmed on Sunday that gunboats were everywhere in the area. They said a combined team of soldiers and navy personnel had moved into the creeks.
According to one of them, “movement has been restricted. The military personnel are going about to show their presence and scare the militants, who strike mostly at night.”
APC members behind attacks on oil facilities - Tompolo
Meanwhile, wanted former
Commander, Operation Pulo Shield, Maj.-Gen. Alani Gafar Okunlola (with walking stick); Commander, 3 Battalion Effurun, Lt.-Col. Igwe Patrick Omoke and Brig.-Gen. F. Yahaya (from four Brigade, Benin) and other security officers during the inspection of one of the pipeline blown up by the Niger Delta militants at the weekend at Egwa 1, Warri South West, Delta State. PHOTO: THEOPHILUS ONOJEGHEN
in, told the AUTHORITY that it is the prerogative of the incumbent administration to discontinue PRESIDD if it so wishes.
“The scholarship scheme is not statutory, though government is a continuum, but whatever is good from a previous administration like this one should be encouraged and continued so you don’t throw everything away because it was done by the previous administration.
“The President is not bound by initiatives of his predecessor in office, but when they are good initiatives he should look into and ensure that we do that to encourage our children so they can have bright opportunities because they are gifted and brilliant”, Odumakin added.
The AUTHORITY took up the issue with the Director of Information at the National Universities Commission (NUC), Mallam Ibrahim Yakassai, and he had this to say: “We don’t have any statement on PRESIDD. As a Commission, we can’t tell the intention of government, whether they want to continue with it or not. We are waiting to see whether they will make a statement to say they are continuing or not.”
The AUTHORITY recalls that the immediate past Vice Chairman of the Northern Senators Forum, Senator Smart Adeyemi, had criticised the scheme and called for the correction of what he perceived as anomalies in the selection of the recipients of the scholarship awards.
“The figures are inexplicable and it is difficult to believe that only seven out of the 104 beneficiaries are from the entire 19 northern States,” Adeyemi had said.
Adding his voice to the call for the suspension of the scheme was the then Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Education, Hon. Aminu Suleiman, who identified lack of due process in the selection of awardees.
“It is our belief that there is no state in this federation where you cannot find a First Class candidate. The committee is of the opinion that somebody somewhere sat in his office, drew up a list and submitted it to the Commission. The exercise must be halted until a full detail of the selection process is supplied to the committee.”
Ibrahim Mohammed, Spokesman of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), did not mince words as he called the programme discriminatory and unfair to the North.
It will be recalled that only Kwara, Benue and Kogi had their indigenes on the list from the North out of 104 beneficiaries, while Ogun and Osun, topped the list of recipients with 17 and 15 respectively.
leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), High Chief Government Ekpemupolo (alias Tompolo), has accused the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Bayelsa State, Chief Timipre Sylva and some members of the party in Delta State of sponsoring the attacks on oil and gas facilities in the Niger Delta region.
Tompolo, who is wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for an alleged N13 billion fraud, said those who carried out the recent vandalism of the facilities in the Niger Delta region where only out to smear his name.
The Ibe-Ebidouwei of Ijaw Nation, in a statement addressed to President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday, claimed he had no knowledge of the recent hostility.
In the statement which was made available to our correspondent in Warri, Tompolo said: “They are doing this in connivance with an EFCC lawyer, who is also a member of your party; he is at the forefront of prosecuting me because I refused to buy property from him.
“The crux of this letter is to let you know them, that they are dubious, mischievous, desperate, pretentious, manipulative and corrupt, therefore do not share the same vision and mission with you, as well as do not believe in good governance. I will briefly tell you some of their antecedents in this letter.”
Tompolo continued: “I wish to inform you that it has come to my knowledge that the leader of your party and governorship candidate of the APC in Bayelsa State and a few young men from Warri South West LGA of Delta State, who joined the party from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) after the 2015 presidential election, are hell-bent on linking me to the renewed vandalism of oil facilities in the Niger Delta region whereas they are the ones carrying out the acts to smear my name.
“The leader of your party in Bayelsa State approached me shortly after my meeting with you in Abuja, that I should accompany him to meet you and plead for him to be appointed as Special Adviser (SA) and Chairman of the Presidential Amnesty Programme Committee, which I refused to do because of his antecedents, as not a reliable and trustworthy person.
“It was thereafter he forced his way into the governorship election of the state, which almost tore the state apart with violence, beginning with the party primaries in which he demonstrated a high level of desperation as was recounted by the chairman of the committee and governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.”
The letter further said: “Mr. President, as for the members of the party from my local government area, Warri South West, they have been involved in illegal bunkering and oil theft activities over the years, which I have been fighting against because of my love for the country. They know me as a no-nonsense person.
“There is this particular one from the same Gbaramatu Kingdom with me who has sworn to kill me because I refused to manipulate the ascension to our traditional stool in his favour when he was not even qualified for it. And so, he looks for any opportunity to deal with me,” Tompolo stated.