The Nation Newspaper

Tag: JTF

  • JTF rescues lawmaker’s parents from abductors in Borno

    JTF rescues lawmaker’s parents from abductors in Borno

    The Joint Task Force (JTF) on Operation Restore Order (ORO) yesterday said it rescued the parents

    of Mohammed Sanda, a member of the National Assembly from suspected kidnappers in Borno State.

    JTF spokesman, Lt.-Col. Sagir Musa, spoke on Monday in a statement in Maiduguri.

    Musa said Mr Ummara and Mrs Maryam Sanda were rescued after an operation near Maiduguri.

    “Based on intelligence, the JTF intercepted and rescued two kidnap victims – one Ummara Sanda Sheriff and his wife Mrs Maryam Sanda Sheriff, who are the parents of Hon. Mohammed Sanda, a legislator representing Kaga-Maigumeri – Gubio Constituency at the National Assembly.

    “ They were kidnapped last Sunday by terrorists at Ngamdu village at about 10:15 pm, The village is a border town linking Borno and Yobe States.”.

    Musa said the victims and their abductors were heading for the desert town of Marte before they were intercepted.

    “The terrorists and the victims were heading toward Marte in Marte Local Government Area in an old model Toyota 4 Wheel Drive when they were intercepted at Zabarmari by the JTF troops on special operation.

    “The couple were successfully rescued by the JTF and Mr Sanda is 85 years while his wife Maryam is 70 years. They seem to be in good health.”

    Musa said several items, including one AK 47 Rifle and a magazine with 30 rounds of 7.62 mm Special Ammunition, and seven Assorted Cell phones, six pairs of wrappers were recovered from the suspects.

    “The JTF wishes to once again alert the public to be wary and security conscious at all times.

    “Members of the public are advised to be very sensitive to strangers and friends that have not been in contact for long.

    “Similarly, the public are warned to avoid isolated areas and shun meetings or friendship organised through telephones or social media.

    “This advice is based on the intelligence available to the task force that Boko Haram Terrorists have resolved to concentrate more on kidnappings than robbery.”

  • JTF captures militant camp after bloody shootout

    JTF captures militant camp after bloody shootout

    •Militants ‘raze’ buildings, threaten more bloodshed

    The Joint Task Force (JTF) in the Niger Delta, codenamed ‘Operation Pulo Shield’, has captured a militant camp, allegedly being rebuilt by a faction of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) in Warri, Delta State.

    The camp was destroyed after a gunfight between the militants and troops of the 19 Battalion attached to the JTF in Koko, headquarters of Warri North Local Government.

    One of the armed youths was arrested while some people were feared dead.

    A former leader of MEND in the area, ‘General’ Ezekiel Akpasibowei aka Egbema 1, told our reporter that the camp was operated by criminals and disgruntled politicians, who wanted more control of the local government and access to unhindered illegal bunkering operations.

    He said the group was also responsible for criminal activities, including attacks on expectant mothers and children.

    “As the leader of this area, we do not have militants; what we have are criminals posing as agitators. All the genuine militants have undergone non-violence training.”

    He said the group had fingered him and prominent Ijaw youth leaders in the area for elimination, stressing that they invaded a Zion (village) in Egbema clan on Monday night and razed three buildings, including those of Apostle Sunny Jero, Vice Chairman of Egbema Gbaramatu Development Foundation.

    That report could not be independently confirmed by our reporter.

    Security sources said the directive to storm the camp came from the highest authority in the Armed Forces.

    “The top military officers are worried that the region could be slipping back into militancy, criminality and all sorts of vices.

    “We cannot allow this at a time we are battling Boko Haram in the North”, our source added.

    It was gathered that the ammunition and explosives were recovered from the camp, which was rigged with explosives and various booby traps.

    The clash came on the heels of a fresh crisis in the Southern Ijaw and Nember areas of neighboring Bayelsa State, which led to the killing of 12 policemen and abduction of at least nine oil workers in the past few days.

    The Commanding Officer, 19 Brigade of Sector 1, Lt. Col Frank Etim, said troops moved in obedience to a directive from the topmost echelon of the military.

    He said prior to the Sunday clash, troops of the Task Force had intelligence report on the presence of the camp in Adagbrasa/Itagbene area of Warri North Local Government.

    However, Lt. Col. Etim said operators of the camp were responsible for the abduction of three workers of the oil surveillance team on routine duty on the Benin River.

    He said the group behind the camp had been involved in kidnapping, political upheaval, oil bunkering, sea piracy and blockade of the Benin River.

    Speaking on how the camp was captured, the top army officer said the militants set several traps, including felling heavy logs on the waterways to evade arrest and to enable them escape.

    Etim said the camp was eventually set ablaze after hours of sporadic gun battle between troops and the militants in the creek.

     

  • Boko Haram commander killed in Maiduguri

    The Joint Task Force (JTF) on Operation Restore Order (ORO) yesterday confirmed the killing of a suspected Boko Haram commander, Mohammed Chad, during a special operation in Maiduguri.

    JTF’s spokesman, Lt.-Col. Sagir Musa, made this known via a statement in Maiduguri. He said “A special operation was conducted at Ruwan-Zafi area of Maiduguri by troops of the JTF and operatives of the State Security Services (SSS) last Friday.

    “The operation led to the death of a notorious terrorist commander, a.k.a. Mohammed Chad, an indigene of Marte, Borno, who had been on the wanted list of the JTF.”

    It said that the late Chad was linked to many terrorist attacks in Borno and other states in the recent past.

  • Yobe clash death toll hits 25

    At least 25 people were killed in a clash between the Joint Task Force and suspected Boko Haram members who robbed a bank and attacked a police station in Yobe State, police said on Friday.

    The military had earlier said seven people were killed in the shootout on Thursday.

    “Five policemen and 20 gunmen have been confirmed dead and over nine million naira ($56,600) was carted away from a commercial bank,” Reuters quoted Yobe State police commissioner, Sanusi Rufai, as saying in a statement, adding that the loot had been recovered.

    The Boko Haram sect and offshoots such as the al Qaeda-linked Ansaru, as well as associated criminal networks, have posed the main threat to the stability of Nigeria since a 2009 amnesty for militants in the oil-producing Niger Delta calmed violence there.

    Thursday’s shootout followed a major military assault on a Boko Haram hideout by allied forces from Nigeria, Chad and Niger last week that killed dozens of people and may have been one of the deadliest since the Islamists launched an uprising in 2009.

    The Nigerian Red Cross is trying to check reports from locals that 187 people died in that battle. The military said the figure is inflated, but it has barred any access to aid agencies wanting to investigate.

     

  • Several killed in JTF, Boko Haram clash in Borno

    Several killed in JTF, Boko Haram clash in Borno

    … Army disputes figure

    Intense fighting between the military and members of the Boko Haram sect in Borno State is reported to have killed at least 185 people, however the army has disputed this figure.

    Rocket-propelled grenades and heavy gunfire bombarded the remote town of Baga near the border with Chad for hours on Friday evening, officials told BBC on Monday.

    Some 2,000 homes were reportedly destroyed, causing many of the deaths.

    Nigeria faces a long-running insurgency in its predominantly Muslim north.

    The Boko Haram insurgency has left thousands of people dead since 2009.

    Residents of Baga fled into the bush and only returned on Sunday afternoon to find much of the town destroyed and human and animal corpses strewn through the streets.

    One local journalist said this marked a significant escalation in the insurgency in the area, with the militants using heavier weapons than in previous attacks.

    One resident, Bashir Isa, told Associated Press: “Everyone has been in the bush since Friday night; we started returning to town because the governor came.

    “To get food to eat in the town now is a problem because even the markets are burnt. We are still picking corpses of women and children in the bush and creeks.”

    Residents said most of the bodies had been burnt beyond recognition in blazes that had destroyed much of the town.

    Local official Lawan Kole said that 185 people – including civilians, members of the security forces and attackers – had been buried.

    However, the Joint Task Force spokesman in Borno State, Lt Col Sagir Musa, told the AFP news agency that such a high number of deaths was “unthinkable.”

    “On my honour as an officer, nothing like that happened.”

     

     

  • Oil thieves responsible for Nembe spills, says JTF

    •‘MEND did not blow up Shell’s facilities’

    The Joint Task Force (JTF) in the Niger Delta, “Operation Pulo Shield,’’ said it had traced the oil spill at Nembe Community in Bayelsa State to oil thieves.

    Its spokesman, Lt. Col. Onyema Nwachukwu, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Yenagoa that operatives of the task force had identified the source of the spill.

    Col. Nwachukwu also dismissed claims by the Movement for Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) that its men attacked the facilities of the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) in Nembe.

    He described as false “the claim by those criminals of blowing up a well head”.

    The spokesman said the JTF “troops on patrol along Nembe Creek 1 Flow Station had earlier reported an incident of oil spill on the water around Ewwelesuo Community in Nembe.

    “The troops observed a fresh dug out possibly for laying illegal pipeline and fresh foot prints which were traced to a small camp.

    “Items such as hack saw for cutting pipelines, shovels, food items, cooking pots, sleeping mat, foot wears, bags of pure water and clothes were found in the camp”.

    Col. Nwachukwu said the affected oil well operated by Shell in the Nembe axis had been shut down to forestall further damages to the environment.

    NAN gathered that the camp used by the oil thieves in Nembe for the illicit trade has been destroyed by the JTF.

    SPDC spokesman Mr Tony Okonedo declined comment on the spill when NAN correspondent contacted him.

    Okonedo did not also respond to text messages sent to him on the issue.

    Last Friday, the JTF said it arrested a fishing trawler converted into a bunkering vessel and used for conveying stolen crude.

    Col. Nwachukwu said the arrest was made on the Akassa waterways in Bayelsa during multiple raids between April 1 and 10.

    He said: “The fishing trawler, Christened DALLAL, was arrested laden with stolen crude oil product, when it was intercepted by operatives of NNS Delta, a maritime component of the Joint Task Force.

    “The trawler has been towed to Brass Terminal and secured pending further investigations. Two barges laden with stolen petroleum products have also been arrested by operatives of Sector 2 of the Joint Task Force.

    “The barges, named Coastal 22 Peace River and Mudigba 1 are now berthed at the Agip Brass Terminal pending their handover to prosecuting agencies at the completion of preliminary investigations,” Col. Nwachukwu said.

    He said 20 pumping machines, one Lister generator and one cargo pumping generator were also seized by the JTF during the operation.

    The JTF spokesman said 35 illegal refineries discovered in Rivers and Bayelsa coastal communities were destroyed within the period.

    According to Col. Nwachukwu, JTF also destroyed 150 large plastic tanks and 23 pumping machines used by the oil thieves in another camp at Ogidigben Village at Escravos in Delta.

    On the number of arrests made, he said 18 suspects were arrested in various anti-oil theft operations.

    He said two of the suspects were handed over to the Rivers State Command of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps for prosecution, 16 are undergoing preliminary investigations.

    SPDC had threatened to shut down its Nembe Trunk line because of rising incidents of oil theft through its pipeline network in Bayelsa.

    On March 4, its Managing Director, Mr Mutiu Sumonu, urged the JTF to step up its activities to reduce oil theft, currently standing at about 60,000 barrels daily.

     

  • JTF attributes Bayelsa spill to oil theft

    The Joint Task Force (JTF) in the Niger Delta Region, “Operation Pulo Shield,” said it had traced the oil spill at Nembe Community in Bayelsa State to the activities of oil thieves.

    The spokesman of the JTF, Lt. Col. Onyema Nwachukwu, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Yenagoa that operatives of the task force had identified the source of the spill.

    Nwachukwu also dismissed claims by the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) that its men attacked the facilities which belong to Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), in Nembe.

    He described as false “the claim by those criminals” of blowing up a well head.

    The spokesman said the JTF troops on patrol along Nembe Creek 1 Flow Station had earlier reported an incident of oil spill on the water around Ewwelesuo Community in Nembe.

    “The troops observed a fresh dug out possibly for laying illegal pipeline and fresh foot prints which were traced to a small camp.

    “Items such as hack saw for cutting pipelines, shovels, food items, cooking pots, sleeping mat, foot wears, bags of pure water and clothes were found in the camp,” Nwachukwu told NAN.

    He said the affected oil well operated by Shell in the Nembe axis had been shut down to forestall further damages to the environment.

    NAN also gathered that the camp used by the oil thieves in Nembe area for the illicit trade has been destroyed by the JTF.

     

  • JTF impounds vessels with stolen crude, destroys 35 illegal refineries

    JTF impounds vessels with stolen crude, destroys 35 illegal refineries

    The Joint Task Force (JTF) in the Niger Delta has arrested a fishing trawler converted into a bunkering vessel and used for conveying stolen crude .

    Lt. Col. Onyema Nwachukwu, Media Coordinator of JTF Operation Pulo Shield, said on Friday that the arrest was made on the Akassa waterways in Bayelsa during multiple raids held between April 1, and April 10.

    “The fishing trawler, Christened DALLAL, was arrested laden with stolen crude oil product, when it was intercepted by operatives of NNS Delta, a maritime component of the Joint Task Force.

    “The trawler has been towed to Brass Terminal and secured pending further investigations. Two barges laden with stolen petroleum products have also been arrested by operatives of Sector 2 of the Joint Task Force.

    “The barges, named COASTAL 22 PEACE RIVER and MUDIGBA 1 are now berthed at the AGIP Brass Terminal pending their handover to prosecuting agencies at the completion of preliminary investigations,” Nwachukwu said

    He said that 20 pumping machines, one Lister generator and one cargo pumping generator were also seized by the JTF during the operation.

    The JTF spokesman said that 35 illegal refineries discovered in Rivers and Bayelsa coastal communities were destroyed within the period.

    According to Nwachukwu, JTF also destroyed 150 large plastic tanks and 23 pumping machines used by the oil thieves in another camp at Ogidigbem Village at Escravos in Delta.

    On the number of arrests made, he said 18 suspects were arrested in the various anti-oil theft operations.

    He said two of the 18 suspects were handed over to the Rivers State Command of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps for prosecution, while 16 were still undergoing preliminary investigations.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that Shell Petroleum Development Company had threatened to shut down its Nembe Trunk line because of rising incidents of oil theft through its pipeline network in Bayelsa.

    Mr Mutiu Sumonu, the Managing Director of SPDC, on March 4, urged the JTF to step up its activities to reduce oil theft, currently standing at about 60,000 barrels daily.

  • JTF confirms death of officer in Yobe

    JTF confirms death of officer in Yobe

    The Joint Task Force in Yobe on Tuesday confirmed the death of its officer in the Sunday clash with insurgents at Geidam in Yobe.

    A statement issued by Lt. Eli Lazarus, the JTF spokesman, also confirmed that two other officers sustained injuries.

    “One officer was killed and two others injured are receiving treatment, while four suspected insurgents dressed in military uniforms were killed in the encounter.

    “The dead bodies of the insurgents were haphazardly dressed in military uniforms. Some wear only the top, while others trousers.

    “The suspected terrorists are heading toward Geidam town to carry out attacks and have an encounter with JTF troops close to Tumbulgi, 11 kilometers north of Geidam, and were successfully repelled,’’ Lazarus said.

  • Militants escape with bodies of 12 JTF men

    •Ex-MEND leaders go into hidding

    Militants who killed 12 policemen in Azuzuama, Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, escaped with their bodies, arms, ammunition and uniforms, The Nation learnt yesterday.

    None of the bodies of the policemen had been recovered by divers – as at press time last night.

    The Bayelsa State Commissioner of Police, Kingsley Omire, said the slain policemen comprised two inspectors, four Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs) and six constables. He did not name them.

    Omire said a search party had been sent to the scene. They include divers, who are expected to go under water to search for the bodies.

    The policemen were on escort duty from Yenagoa, the state capital, in a speed boat heading for Azuzuama for the burial of the mother of an ex-militant leader, Kile Torughedi, aka Young Shall Grow, who is also a Special Assistant to Bayelsa Governor on Maritime Security.

    The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) claimed responsibility for the killing of the policemen. It had earlier threatened to resume hostilities and sustained attacks, codenamed: “Hurricane Exodus” as a result of the 24-year jail term slammed on one of its leaders, Henry Okah, in a South African court on March 26.

    Okah was sentenced for his involvement in the October 1, 2010 twin bomb blasts at the Eagle Square, Abuja during Nigeria’s golden independence anniversary. Twelve persons died in the incident.

    The militant group declared that its fighters killed the policemen, because the Joint Task Force (JTF) dismissed its Hurricane Exodus as an empty threat.

    Some former leaders of the MEND in Delta and Bayelsa states have gone into hiding, following the controversy surrounding the killing of the policemen.

    Renowned MEND commanders, such as Mr. Victor Ebi (aka Boyloaf) and Paul Eris (Ogun Boss), have stayed away from public glare since the weekend incident.

    Those who venture out do so with more civilian and police escorts.

    A top source at the Joint Task Force, “Operation Pulo Shield”, the special security outfit in the area, told our reporter that at least one of the former ex-warlords made “an informal appeal for inclusion of soldiers in his security guards” after the incident.

    Former militant leaders, under the auspices of Leadership, Peace and Cultural Development Initiative (LPCDI), have condemned the killing, describing it as an attempt to rubbish the amnesty programme.

    The group’s leader, Wilson Reuben (aka Pastor Reuben), also debunked Jomo Gbomo’s claim, saying: “We that are freedom fighters in Bayelsa are saddened that such incident happened in Bayelsa State. We want to state that the purported MEND claim is false.

    “MEND is not involved and the Amnesty Office is not involved. This is pure misunderstanding between a leader and his boys. While conceding that there are cases of deductions from the monthly stipends of the former armed youths, Pastor Reuben blamed the development on the Federal Government’s refusal to implement the terms of the amnesty deal to the letter.

    “Nevertheless, our independent investigations revealed that leaders of the Henry Okah-faction of MEND instigated the attack, using aggrieved former militants.

    “There is no doubt that there is disharmony in the rank and file of the amnesty beneficiaries in Bayelsa State. Those who are entrusted with the windfall from the struggle are buying cars and building houses and this has left many of their former ‘boys’ disillusioned.”