Nigerian Soldiers Kill Notorious Cultists In Imo

The Nigerian Army said it killed two suspected kidnappers during a raid on their camps in Umoubi and Umudike forests, in Ohaji Egbema Local Government Area of Imo State.

The army, in a statement issued on Friday by its spokesperson, Sani Usman, said the camps in the forests belonged to two cult groups – De-Well and De-Gbam.
One of those killed during the Thursday raid was identified as Chigozie aka “Chi boy”, said to be a notorious kingpin of one of the cult groups.

The body of another suspected cult member was later discovered in the forest, the military said, adding that a number of other cult members may have escaped with gunshot wounds.

The troops, from 34 Field Artillery Brigade, recovered some military uniforms, mobile telephones, and other household items, and then destroyed the camps.

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20 Soldiers Have Died So Far - Niger Delta Avengers Raises Concern about Buhari's Sincerity in Peace Talks

The leadership of the Niger Delta Avengers has questioned the dedication of President Muhammadu Buhari to the restoration of peace in the Niger Delta region with the recent introduction of the Operation Crocodile Smile.

Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), one of the notorious militant groups operating in the oil-rich region has said that at least 20 soldiers have died during the military operation “Crocodile smile”.

The group in a statement signed by its spokesman Brig Gen Mudoch Agbinibo and made available online offered their condolences to the families and Mr. President, Muhammadu Buhari, C-In-C of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, on the soldiers who drowned in the current military operation.

The statement read: “Mr. President from available facts, the untimely deaths of these four (4) fine soldiers in the creeks of Bayelsa and another sixteen (16) that was recorded during the first four days of the exercise along the River Ethiope, in Delta state but was earlier covered up is nothing more than act of murder.”

The militants claimed that the soldiers died due to negligence, administrative greed and corruption within the military constructed and perfected by the ascendant All Progressives Congress political class who have refused to sincerely embrace dialogue but instead resort to kinetic means of battling insurgency in the oil-rich region.

“Mr. President, the worrisome dimensions about the ongoing reorganization and restructuring of the unending security operations in the Niger Delta is where two of your head of security apparatus are boasting to the minister of defense that, they have your ears"

"They assured him, it is now their turn to bloat their pockets and that they can talk you to even borrowing money to sustain the insecurity in the region, which the honourable minister of defense concurred to before the ongoing exercises.

“We have earlier advised against timing, strategy and objectives of the show of military might and the deployment of military hardwares to the Niger Delta suddenly when there is certainly cessation of hostilities for peace talks to commence.

"But the top hierarchy of the Nigerian military led by Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, your chief of army staff was only after his pecuniary monetary gains and that of some Akpakpa- AJUDAIBO CHAMPAGNE intelligence chief who is desperately arm-twisting the peace processes continuously,” the Avengers added.

 

The Avengers group find the Niger Delta sanitization programme codenamed 'Operation Crocodile Smile' suspicious as over two thousand military personnel were hurriedly trained within a period of 4 to 14 days for a military exercise in the region where a ceasfire has been announced and stakeholders await the Federal Government's response on their demands.

The group continued: “Have you forgotten the exploits of our great fathers during the infamous Nigerian Civil War in amphibious warfare without any military training? Is it because they were volunteers as such the success was credited to Late Lt. Col. Benjamin Adekunle and Lt. Col Olusegun Obasanjo instead of them? Mr. President as a veteran of that fateful war, you know that after all failures, the amphibious warfare and successes was under the command of Lt. Gen. Isaac Jasper Adaka Boro of blessed memories, the pride and face of the 3rd Marine Commandos (3MCDOS) constituted of able-bodied Ijaw warriors voluntarily. They were not given any formal military training prior to that great contribution to the unity of Nigeria, but they succeeded because there were amphibious by nature.

 “Mr. President, the truth to be told, we are the “GREAT WHITE SHARKS” of the Atlantic when it comes to marine warfare! “Operation Crocodile Smiles” is ironically, a simulative military operation exercise for waters less than 2 fathoms in depth orchestrated by the top hierarchy of the military to undermine any genuine disposition from your government towards restoration of tranquility in the Niger Delta and to exhaust your security budget for the year, except you are thinking otherwise towards peace in the Niger Delta too.

“We the Ijaws and the people of the Niger Delta occurred here times immemorial. We have resisted, any attempt of exclusions in the control of our God given resources, from the Portuguese and British colonial trades and periods to date. We are ever ready to continue that resistance even without guns and ammunitions.

“Finally, Mr. President, we want you to commission a high powered panel to investigate all processes that led to the ongoing military operation and exercise in the Niger Delta tagged “Operation Crocodile Smiles” and all the ongoing cover-ups of military mishaps that have led to more than twenty (20) deaths so far. Mr. President, in practical terms Crocodiles do not have any capacity to swim close to the water depth small tiger sharks swim and play around not to talk of the depths of the great whites, the heart of the nation’s economic where we have overmastered.

“The mission ongoing in the Niger Delta is a brainchild of orchestrated military corruption at your face Mr. President. Operation Crocodile Smiles is nothing but a conduit pipe for military contracts, political profiteerism and patronages designed for the stress of your administration’s scarce resources.

If it has any other purpose, it is satisfy the ego of a trigger happy chief army staff who killed over 800 Shiite just to have the right of way to a meeting even though there were other routes to his meeting. For the records, depths of 2-3 fathoms in the Niger Delta region is likened to the waters our kids of ages between 3-8 years bathe and swarm with crocodiles, alligators and other aquatic creatures in the mangroves/freshwater swamps of Niger Delta creeks.”

Niger Delta militant groups, including NDA, have launched the attacks on oil and gas pipelines since February 2016. The militants demand a greater share of Nigeria’s oil wealth for the impoverished but oil-rich region.

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The Shiites Group Accused Soldiers Of Abducting 50 Of Their Daughters

Members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), otherwise known as Shi’ites, have accused the army of abducting 50 girls from Zaria, Kaduna state during last year’s clash between the sect and some soldiers.

The organisation also announced the establishment of the #BringBackOurZariaGirls campaign, and said it would not rest until the girls are rescued.

The Shi’ites said the parents of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls were looking up to the military to secure the release of their children, without knowing that soldiers also abducted innocent people.

In what could be seen as a jest on the military, the organisation said the difference between soldiers’ and Boko Haram’s style of operation is that while insurgents acted under anonymity, the soldiers committed the alleged crime openly.

“We still mourn the tragedy of the loss of our brothers and sisters, but the bitter part of it is the abduction of over 50 girls by men of the Nigerian army,” the group said in a statement.

“The abduction of the girls took place immediately after the disastrous massacre at the residence of Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky, which is a shameful act that dented the image of the Nigerian military in the international arena.

“In a situation where Nigerians and parents of the abducted Chibok girls relied heavily with the belief that the army can rescue their abducted children, the same army were caught in a new set of abduction paradox.

“The distinction between Chibok girls’ abduction and Zaria abduction is that Chibok is related to a group that operates in anonymity, while in Zaria, the girls’ abduction was fully undertaken by uniformed men of the Nigerian army.

“Females are precious species that are highly fragile and sensitive; that is the reason why we launched the #BringBackOurZariaGirls campaign; we hope to see the engagement of human right activists, socialists, feminist groups, and all sympathetic minds in the struggle for the freedom of our abducted girls.”

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