BEVERLY HILLS, June 05, (THEWILL) – Soldiers attached to Joint Military Task Force (JTF) code named Operation Pulo Shield on Sunday raided Ogulagha, host community to Shell Forcados Export Terminal, in Burutu Council area of Delta state, arresting six persons including a Community Chief, the Community Chairman and four others.
THEWILL learnt that the arrested natives, who were taken to Nigeria Army 3 Battalion Effurun, near Warri, Delta state are being interrogated over the attack on the Forcados 45″ inches Export Line of which resurgent group, Niger Delta Avengers had claimed responsibility.
Sources told our correspondent that the Chairman and Public Relations Officer of the host community who went to the Army Barracks to ascertain the reason for the arrest were also held by the army over allegations that they were involved in the pipeline attacks.
Chairman of Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) – Ogulagha Clan Chapter, Comrade Doubra Collins Okotete, who confirmed the development, disclosed that the community was allegedly raided around 8:20am by the soldiers who he alleged assaulted the locals during the operation.
He however mentioned those arrested to include; Chief Peter Tuasinde, Mr Clement Ibada, Mr John Borme, and MR Goddey Miebi including the community Chairman, Captain Solomon Prebor and community PRO, Mr Agediga Henrey, who were later arrested.
He said that the Ogulagha people had over 50 years of oil exploration and exploitation in their land always cooperated, supported and created the enabling environment for peaceful operations by Shell and other multinational oil companies despite years of marginalisation and underdevelopment and wondered why the army had decided to make his innocent community people pay for what they know nothing about.
Okotete, who said that IYC Ogulagha chapter had earlier condemned the attacks on oil installations in the Niger Delta region, said that the Ogulagha people are not into act of pipeline vandalism adding that whenever they have issues with Shell and other multinational oil companies, they have their own way of addressing them without resorting to destruction of oil facilities in their domain.
He therefore called on the JTF to immediately release the arrested persons while calling on soldiers to refrain from intimidating and harassing poor community people in the name of looking for members of NDA.
Efforts to get comments from Commanding Officer, 3 Battalion, Effurun, Lit-Col Igwe P. Omoke proved abortive.
Although it was not immediately clear if the raid and arrest was an enforcement of an order, THEWILL recalls that the Commander of the JTF, Major General Okunola had during his visit to sites of earlier bombed pipelines in January 17, 2016, threatened that the military would hold community leaders responsible for the attacks and called on the locals to produce the attackers of oil installations in their communities.
It could be also recalled IYC spokesman Worldwide, Eric Omare, had earlier in a statement faulted the military adopted position that community leaders will henceforth be held responsible for pipeline vandalism.
“We fault the threat by the JTF to hold community leaders responsible for attacks on oil facilities and wish to alert the world of the impending attack on innocent Ijaw communities and people by the military under the guise of looking for suspected bombers of oil facilities,” he had said.
Story by Joe Ogbodu
