Militants who invaded parts of Lagos and Ogun states have reportedly surrendered to the firepower of the Nigerian military, Saturday Sun reports.
This news is coming after the military had bombarded Arepo area of Ogun and some parts of Lagos killing about 19 militants and leaving many others injured
The Sun reports that a man identified as Honourable Omomoh, who posed as the general secretary, Forest Soldiers and Adaka Boro Last Born, informed that his group only wants disarmament, reconciliation and reintegration which was agreed with the government.
According to the man who was said to have spoken via a telephone conversation, as soon as their arms are collected by the government, “all these issues of criminality will not be the order of the day. We are going to secure everywhere.
“We were expecting the disarmament and surprisingly, we heard that the meltdown of the economy affected the budget of the Amnesty Office, and that there is no money, that we should be calm.
“We have been calm for a while but suddenly, what we saw yesterday (Thursday) was bombardment; bombarding the camps with Air Force warplane in which children and women died.
“They dropped five bombs in Arepo area, Elepete, Abuloba in Isawo area and at the same time in Ibafo end. We lost 19 persons and 10 others sustained injuries.”
The group’s spokesperson however, absolved them of blame on the issue of kidnapping as he averred that they were only vandals and not kidnappers.
He said: “We have been assisting the government concerning some kidnappers. We discovered that because of the numbers of ammunition in the possession of people, before you know, two or three will conspire and commit crime.
“But we don’t want all that. We want peace in the country, we want peace in the Niger Delta, and we want peace in the South West. So, what we are interested in is the disarmament that we agreed upon.”
The military has also vowed to continue with the bombardment as it stated that it had deployed more arsenal to the creeks of Lagos and Ogun while maintaining that the aerial bombardment which started on Thursday afternoon will not end until the militants hiding there surrender.
Rear Admiral Ferguson Bobai, the Flag Officer Commanding (FOC) western Naval command, stated on Friday that, “We are going to sustain the operation and we are going to dismantle vandals’ shanties scattered in the area.”
He noted further that the efforts to clear vandals from Arepo area of Ogun state remains a joint operation involving the DSS, NSCDC and the Fire Service Department.
The bombardment, according to Bobai, “was a directive from the Defence Headquarters and the need to bombard the area came following repeated pipeline vandalisation, kidnapping and armed robbery.
“Just last month, the military and component of the operation, code named Operation Awatse got directive from the Chief of Defence Staff, General Gabriel Olonisakin to take drastic action in Arepo area with a view to dismantling vandals camps and shanties scattered at Arepo, Ibafo, Ishawo axis.”
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