Following threats by the Niger Delta Avengers that it will resume its hostilities against Crude oil installations and disrupt other economic activities in the Southern region, fighter jets and Navy gunboats have been sighted in Warri.
Oil company workers reported this development to Vanguard News. The military has debunked the claim that the military build up in the region is connected to militant threats.
Commander, Nigerian Navy Ship, NNS, Delta, Warri Naval Base, Commodore Ibrahim Dewu, said: “What they are speculating as military deployment is routine patrol along Escravos and the Trans Forcados Pipeline. Once we sense any security concern on that line, our men usually move in to patrol the area. Nobody is deploying any gunboat or jets to specific communities. It is a normal patrol.”
Ijaw leader and Ibibenimowe (Chief Mobilizer) of Gbaramatu Kingdom, Chief Godspower Gbenekama, who confirmed the “invasion,” asserted: “At about 1,00 pm, a military chopper, fighter jet and navy boats roamed the length and breadth of Gbaramatu, while the chopper continued hovering around the palace of the Pere (King) of Gbaramatu kingdom.
“The jets hovered over the place for some minutes before they left. Why this is happening, we do not know. Gbaramatu is not at war with the Federal Government. The Niger Delta Avengers do not live in Gbaramatu nor do they live in Gbaramatu palace and we do not know them. We do not know what their plans are. The people are afraid. We don’t want what happened to us in 2009 and 2015 to repeat itself in 2017. We have struggled to maintain peace in Gbaramatu Kingdom. The traditional ruler of Gbaramatu Kingdom has issued a statement calling for peace and admonishing the Avengers not to embark on hostilities. The kingdom had also issued a statement pleading with the Federal Government to look at the problems agitating the minds of the people of the Niger Delta with a view of solving them immediately.’’