Soldiers invade militants’ hideouts - Arrest 229
Bolaji Ogundele, Port Harcourt - 24.09.2008
NO fewer than 229 suspected militants were on Tuesday arrested by the Joint Task Force (JTF) from different hideouts of the militants.
Commander of the JTF, Brigadier General Sarkin-Yaki Bello, who stated this during a press briefing in Port Harcourt, also debunked allegations of civilian massacre in the force’s encounter with militants around Elem Tombia, about two weeks ago.
He said the arrests were made possible following a tip-off and intelligence reports at the disposal of the task force, which indicated some areas as hideouts for militants.
“Gentlemen, for your information, early hours of this morning (Tuesday), we carried out an operation in which we arrested over 229 people from many areas.
“The operation happened in the following watersides; Abonnema, UTC, Njemanze, Afikpo, Aba, Ekwele, Nanka and Timber market,” he said.
Bello, who said his command would not lower its level of alertness in the state despite recent “unilateral truce” called by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), also revealed that virtually all militant camp locations in the state were now known to JTF.
Explaining what happened during the Elem-Tombia general area’s face-off with militants, the General said the location of the encounter was not residential, adding that the place is tagged Elem-Tombia general area because it was the most recognisable name around there.
“The encounter that happened was purely at a camp and not any residential area. We have a lot of responsibilities and the military officers I work with have been trained in the best military tradition in the world. We are very versed both in the military and the conventional laws, as well as in all the conventions that Nigeria is signatory to.
“Therefore, we are the last people that will be involved in any form of wanton destruction or the abuse of human rights. What we attacked was simply a camp which we are sure was military fortification with sandbags and everything,” he reiterated.
He then played a recorded video clip of the encounter. The filming was done while the fight was on and was done both from the air and on land.
He said further that with the aid of intelligence reports, the JTF now had records and knowledge of locations of virtually all the militant camps around and within Rivers State.
He said these militant camps had served as safe houses where kidnap victims from around the state were kept, noting that it was the duty of JTF to ensure that everything that constituted a threat to the citizenry be adequately taken care of.
“As a military outfit, part of our task, in order to achieve our objective, is to try and locate where these camps are and I am very happy to tell you that virtually 99.9 per cent of the camps in Rivers State are at our fingertips. We now know where they are,” he said.
On allegations of professional misconduct among the rank and file of his command, General Bello said he would not deny that there were some of the men who would be involved, but stated that no one under his watch would get away with corruption without facing the law.
