We won’t tolerate further attacks, military warns MEND

THE military has threatened militants in the Niger Delta with a decisive response if its personnel in the region are attacked again.

The warning came on the heels of last week’s killing of a lieutenant-colonel and three other naval officers by a group that used to attack ships.

At a joint press briefing by the security information managers in Abuja, on Monday, spokesman of the committee, Commodore Kabir Aliyu, speaking on behalf of his colleagues, said on March 1, 2012, at about 1.30 p.m, a naval gunboat deployed to Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) for security duties was ambushed by armed militants in five speed boats at One Man camp, near Boro community, Rivers State.

During the ensuing gun battle, a wounded militant, Apudu Gole, was arrested, while three militants’ boats were sunk.

According to him, the suspect, Apudu Gole, 30, hails from Eklemare Odimodi, Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State, while the gang leader, Mr Shedrack Itokofuwei, also known as Mammy Water, from Azagbene in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, was among those killed, as disclosed.

Commodore Aliyu said it was instructive to note that the various attacks on JTF personnel within the last three months in the Nigerian territorial waters were actually carried out by a few different uncoordinated groups within the Niger Delta.

This, he said, had exposed the lie and deception of the so-called Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), trying to seek relevance by creating the false impression that the attacks were being carried out by groups of militants it was coordinating.