Military operatives in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria have been accused of arresting innocent people in their search for the faceless Niger Delta Avengers.
There was confusion monday over the purported arrest of five suspected members of the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) by the Nigerian military in connection with the destruction of several oil and gas platforms in the region.
While the Defence Headquarters has confirmed the arrests, leaders of Gbaramatu, an Ijaw community in the Niger Delta, kicked against the rounding up of the persons, insisting that the “suspects’’ were Chevron contract workers on duty at the time.
The five persons whose names were given as Samuel Emiko, Alfred Timede, Kelvin Mordi, Henry Arogboritse and Isaac Edemde, THISDAY was told, were on routine patrol of oil facilities along the Utunana flow station in Warri South West local government of Delta State, when they were picked up by the military.
The quintet, it was learnt, were employed as surveillance guards under the Chevron’s Pipeline and Facilities Surveillance Programme (PFSP) which has been in operation for several years.
The said PFSP was reportedly contracted to a firm which then employed the services of youths from the host communities of Ijaw and Itsekiri.
While three of the workers now in custody of the military were said to be from Omadino, an Itsekiri village in Warri North, the rest two were said to have come from Kokodiagbene, an Ijaw community, hosts to Utunana Flow Station in Gbaramatu kingdom.
When contacted monday, Chief Godspower Gbenekama, an Ijaw leader and Spokesman of the community noted that they were vehemently against the intimidation and indiscriminate arrest of innocent persons.
The community leader alleged that after the soldiers arrested the suspects with their speedboats bearing the inscription of PFFP and with a Chevron logo on it, they moved to Kokodiagbene and invaded buildings and tortured youths in a bid to force them to accept their membership of the militant group.
He called for the immediate release of the workers , describing the action of the military as a ploy to intimidate the people of Gbaramatu.
“Three of the workers are from Itsekiri (Omadino) while two are from Kokodiagbene, an Ijaw community. They were arrested on their routine check of oil facilities within Utunana flow station with a speedboat which had Chevron’s name boldly written on it. The boat they were caught in also belongs to Chevron.
“They were employed under the Chevron’s Pipeline and Facilities Surveillance Programme (PFSP) through the Ijaw/Itsekiri Regional Development Committee GMoU with host communities,” he said.
He added that the security operatives were looking for a way to cover up their inadequacies, after they ‘goofed’ several times.