Ijaw Militants in Lagos creeks cry out: We're ready to surrender

Just few days after Ijaw Youth Council claimed that the guys attacking, looting communities in parts of Lagos and Ogun states were not from Ijaw, some revelations are beginning to play out.

Militants and pipeline vandals within Arepo have indicated their commitment to surrender their arms to the Federal Govern­ment.

Leader of the Ijaw mili­tant group - Forest Soldiers and Adaka Boro Last Born - General Agbala, told The Sun in a private telephone inter­view that they are agitators and not criminals.

The Army, Air Force and the Navy, have been giving them the heat through aerial bom­bardment to rid the Arepo area of crim­inal elements.

The operation which also involve the Police, the De­partment of State Services (DSS) and the Nigeria Se­curity and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), has re­corded substantial success.

The militants leader, Agbala who spoke partly in pidgin English in the wake of the bombardment of the areas, said he has been doing his best to rid the area of criminal elements, saying that kid­napping has never been in his line. He said a visit to Ogun State would re­veal that he had in the past handed over a man named Ototo to the police, Bishibi­shi and other boys.

Agbala said, “something like kidnap­ping, armed robbery, I am not involved. But na some bad people dey spoil my name up and down. Na im make me dey vex.”

Speaking on their interaction with the government delegation that visited their camps, Agbala said the visit took place last year and he was the one who received the officials.

Agbala said they told the government delegation that they had no problem with anyone, even as he stated that they had since been waiting for the implementation of the ne­gotiation before the ongo­ing crisis started.

On how to end the pipeline vandalism, Agbala said the government del­egation requested they stop vandalizing pipelines so that they would be given contract to secure the pipe­lines, some would be sent to school, while others would engage in vocational training.

Asked to distinguish between vandals and mili­tants, particularly where his group belong to, Agbala said even though they are in Ogun and Lagos states, they are of Ijaw origin.

Corroborating Agbala’s submission, the General Secretary of Forest Soldiers and Adaka Boro Last Born, Honourable Omomoh, said they have always been as­sisting government in rid­ding the areas of criminal elements, saying they made some arrests in the past which the State Anti Rob­bery Squad (SARS) in Ogun State can testify to.

“We are still waiting for them. We are always loyal to the government, but the casualties recorded are too high,” Omomoh declared.

Meanwhile, the Joint Force, Operation Delta Safe (ODS), has allayed the fears of people in the Niger Delta region over any possible break of law and order.

The Commander of the ODS, Rear Admiral Joseph Okojie who spoke in Yena­goa, Bayelsa State vowed that the military would not abdicate its responsibilities to protect the territorial in­tegrity, lives and property in the region.

While dismissing threats by those he stated have no social base, he assured that ODS with its multi agency com­position is capable of nip­ping any security situation in the bud.