JTF Arrests Armed Thugs In Rivers …As Soldiers Storm PDP’s Den Of Terror …Amaechi Hails Effort

Youth of Omoku community in Rivers State with a banner during a peace rally in the community, yesterday

Rivers State Governor, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, has commended officers and men of the Joint Security Task Force on the arrest, yesterday, of about five persons with three AK-47 riffles, assorted arms and ammunition and bags of marijuana, popularly called Indian hemp.
In a statement, yesterday, signed by Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, David Iyofor, he said that the effort was in line with the state government’s policy of zero-tolerance for violence, militancy and criminality.
The Tide gathered that the arrests took place at ‘Barracks’, a notorious haven for outlaws and criminals, located behind Wimpey Junction in the Rumueme area of Port Harcourt.
The security operation that led to the arrests was conducted by a joint military team.
Those taken into custody as a result of the operation are suspected to have been hired by politicians from the area, which is a stronghold of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), while the recovered arms and ammunition prepared to be used to unleash violence on voters and innocent citizens before or during the gubernatorial elections on Saturday.
Amaechi, who hailed the security agencies on the arrests, urged voters and the people of Rivers State to remain calm and peaceful as the Joint Security Task Force in the state has assured the government that they are poised to ensure peaceful, violence-free elections; as well as the safety of lives and property before, during and after the elections.
He further called on Rivers voters to come out en masse on Saturday to vote, as their safety and security would be assured.
It would be recalled that a combined team of men of the Nigeria Army, Air Force, Navy, DSS and the police, yesterday, staged a safe operation to curtail criminal activities in the Rumueme-Rumueprikom-Oroazi areas in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State.
A senior military source said that the operation, which started about 2.00pm local time, was targeted “at flushing out armed criminal elements that have been disturbing the peace of the area”.
The officer, who pleaded not to be named as he was not authorised to speak to the press on the development, said the operations would continue but did not say where, when or how.
But it was gathered that the decision to take-on the criminals was taken after the military reviewed events that led to the death of one of their men on March 28 during the Presidential and National Assembly elections.
The dead soldier was reported to have been shot dead by a band of militia men believed to be working for a certain governorship candidate of a political party.
While many have argued that yesterday’s operation was a “revenge mission”, the senior military source asserted that the operation was carried out to arrest growing violence and proliferation of illegal arms and weapons in the areas.
An eyewitness told The Tide in an interview, that the operation started around the Chidah area of Rumueme, close to the palace of the Apiti of Rumueme (paramount ruler), Chief Omunakwe Nsirim, stretching to Oroazi.
Several persons believed to be thugs and militia men working for a prominent political party that has practically over-run those areas by coercion and threats were arrested and taken away in a military truck.
An ash-coloured Mazda car suspected to be belonging to a kingpin of the militia was also reportedly taken away to a military location.
Men of the Nigerian Army had reportedly come under heavy gunfire on the day of the Presidential and National Assembly polls, during which a soldier was gunned down.
The Brigade Commander, 2 Amphibious Brigade, Port Harcourt, Brig-Gen. Koko Essien, had confirmed the loss of the soldier.
A senior military source said the military would arrest any governorship candidate found on election day to be with unapproved soldiers or policemen, adding that also on the list of those to be arrested are armed thugs and militias.
While yesterday’s operations were on, an eyewitness said that several henchmen in the militia community allegedly working for a certain governorship candidate, who were harboured in a hotel located close to a popular church in Oroazi, suspected of belonging to a former council chairman, were seen running away, afraid that the soldiers would storm the hotel.
Meanwhile, calm has returned to the area but residents now live in fear.
The military were yet to issue any statement on the security operation. The Army Public Relations Officer for the 2 Amphibious Brigade, Port Harcourt could not be reached for reaction as at the time of this report.