- Surveillance video shows the vandals resorting to incantations
- Amosun wants FG to retain military personnel in troubled areas
Senator Iroegbu in Abuja, Sheriff Balogun in Abeokuta and Chiemelie Ezeobi in Lagos
The anti-pipeline vandalism of the Joint Task Force (JTF) monday said it had been able to smoke out 11 notorious pipeline vandals due to the ongoing aerial bombardment of the Arepo creeks in Ogun State.
This is just as it identified and is set to bomb four key targets (observation posts) in the hideouts of the notorious pipeline vandals, which is manned by heavily armed duty guards.
The JTF Chairman, ‘Operation Awatse’ (an Hausa word for scatter), Rear Admiral Fergusson Bobai, who also doubles as the Flag Officer Commanding (FOC), Western Naval Command (WNC), while confirming the arrests said they will sustain the aerial bombardment.
The FOC alongside other security agencies had an after battle assessment after the five-days aerial bombardment of the creeks and mangroves of Ishawo and Igando areas of Ikorodu in Lagos State; then Arepo, Awawa, Elepete and Ibafo areas of Ogun State.
At the debriefing were the General Officer Commanding (GOC), Major General Isidore Edet; the Air Officer Commanding (AOC), Air Force Logistics Command, Air Vice Marshal Sani Ahmed and the Commander, Nigerian Army 9 Brigade, Brigadier General Sani Mohammed.
Others include the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni; the Commandant, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Tajudeen Balogun; and the Director, Department of State Services.
Although the navy chairs the JTF, the aerial bombardment, surveillance and reconnaissance is being carried out under the leadership of the AOC Logistics Command, AVM Ahmed, who coordinates and guides the air component of the entire exercise.
The strength of the air component lies in the Beachcraft aircraft, the Maritime Patrol Aircraft (ATR4), two Alpha jets and the MIG 34 aircraft, which is used for close support and has mounted rifles, guns in front for dropping rockets.
With so many targets in the creeks, it was gathered that the vandals had set up observation posts, which are manned by their heavily armed duty post guards.
The surveillance videos obtained by the NAF Beachcraft (NAF 202), showed that the vandals were heavily armed and they had the GPMG, which they mounted on their gunboats.
However, with the aerial bombardments and launching of rockets on some of their camps, it was gathered that the vandals have retreated farther into the mangroves, as their escape routes have been blocked.
While the army component, with the help of the NSCDC, police and DSS have blocked their access through the land, the other exit points on the water, especially the Abeokuta, Ishawo, Igando exit points have been blocked by the navy.
Also, the video surveillance at night showed the vandals doing incantations, probably to use voodoo power to protect their camps and foil subsequent bombardments by the NAF pilots.
Although the video had no sound, the vandals were however seen dancing around and chanting repeatedly with white handkerchiefs tied round their arms.
Speaking with THISDAY, Bobai said the decision to therefore sustain the aerial bombardment, was to ensure that the four key targets gotten on the surveillance videos are knocked out using precision attack on registered targets.
Meanwhile, the Air Force has the ongoing aerial onslaught against the hideouts and camps of the vandals would continue.
The Director of Public Relations and Information (DOPRI), Group Captain Ayodele Famuyiwa, in a statement yesterday said its forces yesterday struck at criminal hideouts and camps harbouring pipeline vandals at Arepo and environs.
Famuyiwa stated that the latest air strike was in continuation of the aerial bombardment commenced by the NAF on July 28, 2016 to rid the affected areas of pipeline vandals and other criminal elements.
According to him, the ongoing air operations is aimed at providing air support for the Joint Task Force recently set-up by the Defence Headquarters to dislodge pipeline vandals in the South-eest region of the country in an operation codenamed Operation Awatse.
However, the Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, yesterday appealed to the federal government to retain military personnel in the trouble areas in the state against subsequent attacks oil pipeline vandals.
While making the appeal during an on-the-spot assessment of the security arrangement put in place at Ebute-Ojora, one of the affected communities in the Ibafo axis of Obafemi-Owode Local Government Area of the state, Amosun commended federal government for its urgent intervention.
He, however, expressed the fear that the criminals could regroup and further launch a fresh attack of the affected communities if federal government withdraws the military personnel.
He condemned high level of economic sabotage being carried out by the gunmen, urging security agents to intensify efforts until the whole area is wiped out of criminals
He said: “There is still a lot to be done because now they’ve seen this and ran away. Something tells me that with what they have seen, they will ordinary will not want to re-group and we never can say, criminals will always be criminals, we should be ready for them.”
The governor who also addressed the community leaders and traditional chiefs said they must be conscious of the kind of visitors they are welcoming in their various homes.
He therefore, warned them against compromising the security arrangement put in place, disclosing that his administration had already interfaced with the leadership of the CDAs.
“There are better businesses that can be done; we should not harbour all these criminals because they know it is so easy for them to say that ‘we will be given you some amount of money’.
We have now seen the result. The result is that people are being killed; people are being maimed because they could not get the free flow of oil again. So they resulted to attacking our people”.
