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NG News: Attack by militants: JTF beefs up security in Bayelsa
By Bisi Olaniyi and Sola Adebayo
Published: Tuesday, 5 Feb 2008
- x Punch -

Following last Saturday night’s killing of three naval ratings by militants at the Shell Petroleum Development Company’s Tora Manifold in Nembe Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, the Joint Task Force has beefed up security in the state.

The Maj.-Gen. Lawrence Ngubane-led JTF, on Monday, sent reinforcement of gunboats and more personnel to the creeks of Bayelsa, especially areas with the facilities of oil companies, to prevent further attacks.

Stern-looking soldiers were sighted at the numerous checkpoints in Yenagoa, thoroughly checking motorists, passengers and their luggage, to prevent the movement of arms and ammunition.

Military armoured personnel carriers with battle-ready soldiers were also patrolling the streets of the state capital, to show that the JTF was well-prepared for the daring militants.

The Chairman of the Peace and Conflict Resolution Committee, Bayelsa chapter, Chief James Jephthah, at a news conference in Yenagoa on Monday, declared that the militants who attacked the Shell facility came from an unnamed neighbouring state.

Also, the dreaded Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, on Monday, claimed responsibility for the attack on military houseboat and killing of three naval ratings in the Nembe creeks of Bayelsa State.

In an online statement by the MEND’s spokesman, Jomo Gbomo, the militant group stated that the attack was to show that peace had not returned to the volatile Niger Delta.

Meanwhile, the Leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force, Alhaji Mujarhedeen Asari Dokubo, on Monday threatened fresh civil disobedience in the Niger Delta in reaction to the failure of the Federal Government to release the outstanding funds due to the Niger Delta Development Commission.

The outstanding fund due to the commission was put at N242bn. President Umaru Yar’Adua was recently quoted as saying the money had lapsed.

However, Dokubo, who spoke in Warri, said the position of the President was unacceptable to the people of the region, adding that the youths of the region were planning a fresh showdown with the government on the matter.