War on militants moves to RiversBalarabe Musa condemns ACF's supportFrom Kelvin Ebiri (Port Harcourt), Tunde Oyedoyin (London), Saxone Akhaine (Kaduna) and Hendrix Oliomogbe (Asaba)FROM Delta State, the troops of the Joint Task Force (JTF) yesterday extended their military operations to Rivers State where they located and destroyed a militants' camp close to Buguma creek after fierce exchange of fire with the militants led by one 'Egbele'.But far away in England a coalition of civil and human rights groups, under the aegis of the Niger Delta Solidarity Campaign will today hold a two-hour protest in front of Downing Street, before delivering a petition to the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, asking the British government to put pressure on the Nigerian government to stop the military invasion.Also, former civilian governor of old Kaduna State and Chairman of the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), Alhaji Balarabe Musa has warned the Federal Government on the increased military action in the Niger Delta. He condemned the support by the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) for the JTF's move to end the crisis in the area with military force.Meanwhile, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has denied planning to halt attack on oil facilities if the multinationals provide employment for locals.MEND also described the former Attorney General of the Federation, Chief Richard Akinjide's assertion that oil and gas resources found in the Niger Delta did not arise as a result of the sweat or investment of the people of the region as parochial.Explaining the extension of military operations to Rivers, spokesman of the JTF, Col. Rabe Abubakar, said the militants fired at the troops from the camp over night and the security outfit had no option than to locate and destroy the camp.According to him, the task force charged with the responsibility of ending militancy in the Niger Delta is poised to neutralize any camp from which attacks on its men are planned and carried out.He said: "The action of the JTF is aimed at eliminating or getting rid of the criminals who are bent on causing unnecessary tension and apprehension in the region. We wish to once again reiterate that we are not targeting any individual or group but the criminals, and we will locate them wherever they are hiding. They can only run but they can't hide."He explained that on Saturday May 30, 2009, the JTF troops conducted a cordon and search operation during which they recovered an AK47 riffle with registration number 4504913 and three Machine Guns (MG) with 50 rounds of ammunition, at Bukuma Village, Rivers State. He said the operation was hitch free.But in an interview yesterday, MEND spokesperson, Jomo Gbomo, denied knowledge of the military incursion in Buguma. "We can only say at this time that this is a public relations stunt as no serious camp has reported any attacks on them," he said.Speaking in Kaduna yesterday, Balarabe Musa urged the Federal Government to go back to the negotiating table with the people in the Niger Delta whom he said are fighting a just cause to improve their well-being and the condition of the region. He cautioned those backing declaration of war against the militants to desist from doing so "because in the near future, it may be their own turn when they are opposing bad policies of government."He said: "It is unfortunate that the Government has declared war against the militants in Niger Delta. The best way to deal with the current situation is to negotiate to end the war and continue peaceful negotiation."This is because those people in the Niger Delta area who are protesting are fellow Nigerians and they have a case. It may be misrepresented. Government should therefore not seek to resolve this issue militarily. They should seek to deal with this issue politically. And it is not impossible to do so. Because, they have already started negotiating."Musa continued: "The so called militants are complaining about injustice, which is so glaring in the region, and they are not alone. So, those who see justification for the military solution being attempted now, I have a warning for them, that today it is the opposition in the Niger Delta area that are being treated as militants, and are being assaulted militarily. Next time, it will be others in other parts of the country. Because, opposition against bad policies of government has been going on throughout the country and it can intensify in any part of Nigeria for a variety of reasons.""The ACF aligned themselves with the wrong government policy. This issue can never be solved militarily. It has never been solved anywhere in this world militarily...the peaceful negotiation which started long ago should continue."Musa argued that the ACF's recent resolution on the matter was not the position of the entire North, stressing that "they may claim to be speaking for the North, definitely they are not; they are only speaking largely for the North of their vision, not the North of free and patriotic Nigerians."By tradition, they always align with the government of the day. They are part and parcel of the ruling class. And under this current situation, they think their economic interest is being threatened."Irked by a statement credited to former Attorney General and Minister of Justice Chief Richard Akinjide in which he was alleged to have supported the military action in the Niger Delta, Gbomo said the young generation of the Niger Delta people does not consider his comments as relevant but would like to remain focused to put an end to the injustice the region is facing because of the opinion of the likes of Akinjide.He said: "The Niger Delta people did not put oil and gas in the region the same way the people of Lagos did not create the land for which they are landowners today. Let him tell the Americans in Texas that the oil discovered in their ancestral homeland was not put there and so it belongs to everyone to use to the detriment of the person on whose land the resource was discovered."According to Gbomo, if Niger Delta people continue debating with the likes of Akinjide, another 50 years will pass without any result.Akinjide had, in a media publication entitled: "There is Still Fear of Secession", allegedly supported the on going Federal Government's military offensive against the militants, an action which civil society groups and prominent Niger Delta leaders have said claimed the lives of many innocent civilians.The former Attorney General of the Federation was said to have argued that oil and gas resources in the Niger Delta have always belonged to the Federal Government by virtue of the British Colonialist mineral ordinance law which rested all the oil in the central government in Lagos.Like Gbomo, the Chairman of the Niger Delta Civil Society Coalition (NDCSC) and a member of the Niger Delta Technical Committee, Mr. Anyankwe Nsirimovu, said he was disappointed by what he described as Akinjide's conjectures."This is very disappointing, coming from a man I thought I respected before now. He has expired, that is the best way to describe his out of currency ideas. Very remote and backward looking. 'His God given oil' indeed! But such ideas must be attacked, else they hold sway in shallow minds like his all over the land.After a protest at the Downing Street today, members of Niger Delta Solidarity Campaign will then proceed to the Nigerian High Commission and deliver another petition to the High Commissioner, Dr. Dalhatu Tafida.Both the co-ordinator of the Campaign, Inemo Samiama and an official of the High Commission, confirmed this to The Guardian yesterday. "We're aware that they're coming, they've informed us," the official said under condition of anonymity. Speaking with The Guardian moments later, Samiama said: "This campaign is not about the Ijaw or just the IPC (Ijaw Peoples Congress) issue, we've formed alliances with other organizations who will be coming out to support us." Revealing the modus operandi of the demonstration, Samiama said: "We will be at the Downing Street , chanting slogans and carrying placards and also singing between 12 noon and 2pm, but at exactly 2pm, we'll go to No 10 Downing Street (Prime Minister's office) to hand in our petition to the Prime Minister."Asked if Brown is aware that they'll be petitioning him and also demonstrating in the periphery of his office, Samiama answered in the affirmative. "No 10 is expecting us, we will deliver the letter to him and then move to the High Commission."The protest was being planned at the weekend as Col. Abubakar said the task force had uncovered a grand plan by "MEND intellectuals" in the Diaspora to engage in a smear campaign and propaganda against the JTF by linking them with different foreign bank accounts and houses abroad.According to him, the purported plan has it that the illegal oil bunkering which has been going on for a very long time was jointly perpetrated by some top army commanders for gratification which made them exceptionally rich with property and foreign accounts.He said: "The aim of this campaign is to tarnish the image of JTF and distract it from its task in the Niger Delta. The JTF therefore wishes to inform this group and any other group that it would not be intimidated and no amount of smear campaigns as being hatched by this group would deter it from carrying out its national duties."
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