The Ijaw People’s Development Initiative, IPDI, has urged the Nigerian Army to withdraw soldiers occupying Udouda and Okobe communities in Egene Kingdom, Ahoada West Local Government Area of Rivers State, to enable residents, who fled the communities, early this month, return home.
The rights group in a statement by its national president, Austin Ozobo, in Warri, yesterday, said: “We call on the Chief of Defence Staff, Chief of Army Staff, and Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State to prevail on the military task force, Operation Delta Safe, in Rivers and Bayelsa states to evacuate from Uduoda and Okobe.
“Hundreds of Udouda and Okobe residents, who fled their homes in the wake of the bombardments by the military have been homeless and suffering since the invasion and want to return home to pick the pieces of their lives.
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“The authorities should stop further invasion of the communities and ensure the military personnel perpetrating heinous crimes against innocent people face justice.
“The people of Uduoda and Okobe communities are not fighting a war with the Nigerian military, therefore, troops should not gruesomely kill and conquer them.
“That some people are carrying guns and illegally doing oil bunkering in an area is not enough to bombard a community because as you are targeting the people carrying guns, there are also people not carrying guns or unlawfully engaged in oil bunkering.
“We wish to clarify that Uduoda and Okobe communities in Rivers State are not militant hideouts or camps, so the military should not bomb them with crude military intelligence because these are communities that have government-owned schools, power lines, churches, communication equipment, and others.
“The way the Nigerian military invades and bombards vulnerable communities in Niger Delta if they replicate it in fighting terrorism, banditry and Islamic militants, by now, Nigeria might have been free entirely from Islamic Taliban.
“If what we call military intelligence nowadays is not mere hearsay, when you want to attack a residential community, you should know first, whether the place is a residential area, what is the population size of those being hunted, and other lawful residents in the community because you must avoid collateral damage.”