Bille Petitions NASS, Others Over Military Invasion

The chiefs, elders and youth of Bille community in Degema Local Government Area, Rivers State, have made public their plans to invite the International body, the Amnesty International and the  National Assembly to wade into its current security challenge following frequent military operations that often led to loss of property, privacy, bodily injury and humiliation of indigenes.
Consequently, the people of Bille Kingdom have commenced moves to persuade the National Assembly to revisit the similar incident which occurred in December 2015, in which they contacted the erstwhile Brigade Commander of the 2nd Brigade at Bori Camp, Brig-Gen Steve Olabanji, and added that their intervention in the matter would save them from the current mistrust and suspicion by the military which they believed was a ploy by the military to exterminate them as he recalled the Ogoni experience.
A statement made available to The Tide, in Port Harcourt, reveals that for the past two years, the people of Bille Community are no longer safe for hosting the Headquarters of 29 Battalion Sub-sector 3OPPS under the operation Pulo Shield, a society outfit set up to tackle bunkering and sea piracy, and added that unfortunately, it had turned into a nightmare for the indigenes of the area.
Speaking with The Tide, last Monday, the Chairman, Bille Kingdom, Community Development Committee (CDC), Asatubo Kemuel Igbanibo said that, “they  feel Bille Kingdom is being witch-hunted and oppressed”,  and added  that it was unfortunate to hear the army saying that the people of Bille Kingdom were bunkerers, despite the presence of the security agencies’ presence all over the area in the past five years.
Igbanibo recounted their ordeal in December 2015, when the army struck with over 100 soldiers and gun boats, beating up indigenes, broke private homes and desecrated the Agiri Masquerade shrine and when they contacted the 2nd Brigade at Bori Camp, Brig-Gen Steve Olabanji said: “it is a normal routine deployment of troops in one of our areas of responsibility, as the army have the mandate to protect pipelines and other critical natural assets.”
He stated that Bille people were not at war with anyone and not even any of the communities in Bille Kingdom, and added  that the frequent invasion of JTF was unwarranted and as such the community  had  taken its plea to Amnesty International and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
Igbanibo added.
“It is against this backdrop that the community has commenced moves to compel on the National Assembly to intervene in the matter. Already their representative in the House of Representatives, Hon Randolph Brown had raised the matter on the floor of the House and the army authorities were summoned though failed to appear, last year. But in a letter to the House Committee on Public Petitions made available to newsmen dated 19th January, 2016, and signed by Maj-Gen AB Abubakar for Chief of Staff, the army authorities claim that ‘there are many illegal refineries in Bille general area also the deployment of Battalion Tactical Headquarters in Bille has drastically reduced illegal bunkering activities and have helped the checkmate the movement of arms in the area,’” Igbanibo added.
He explained that the response of the Major- General AB Abubakar, who acted on behalf of the Chief of Staff stated that: “from the foregoing, it is clear that the various operations conducted is not to attack or inconvenience innocent civilians, but to prevent economic sabotage and damage to oil pipelines,” adding that the response does go down well with Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), but frowned at the brazen humiliation and trampling on the rights of Bille people, who are the Ijaws by the JTF last week.
Igbanibo emphasized that it is against this backdrop that an affiliate of the Amnesty International, the Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development (CEHRD) waded into the matter last year, and the Director of Programmes for the Body, Styvn Obodoekwe in a petition sent to NHRC to seek for compensation, the withdrawal of soldiers from Bille Kingdom, in order to end the military siege, and it also demanded to work out modalities with the community on adequate compensation, which should not be less than 100million to pay them for the trauma they were subjected to.
Also, the Body emphasized that “We count on your swift intervention to end military occupation in Bille community with its attendant sufferings on members of the community and the constriction of their rights to freedom of movement, their liberty and their freedom from fear.”
In his reaction, the Spokesman of Bille Council of Chiefs, Dagogo Teme said that the rulers of the community were not happy with the way the army invaded the community and humiliate the Bille people without prior information given to the chiefs.
“We do not believe that the ammunition they said they found in the community is factual, because if they were sincere, they were supposed to take somebody from the community along for the search. At least as rulers, they were supposed to inform us, rather they took some chiefs after their search to show the things they claim to have found, how do we believe them when we were not with them during the search?
“IYC frowns at any action to oppress the Ijaws without recourse to law, as it reasoned that the army over the years had failed in its responsibility to tackle oil bunkering, theft and tractable problem of sea piracy and now want to use Bille people as scape-goat.”
He lamented that the continuous defending of military operations for the past five years, even when it goes against human rights did not go down well with indigenes and chiefs of the area.
It will be recalled that last week, the people of Tuoma in Bille Kingdom have been deserted following alleged invasion by members of the Joint Military Task Force (JTF), who, they alleged, brutalized occupants of the sleepy hamlet and set some parts ablaze and as a result, property worth over millions of naira were lost.

Susan Serekara-Nwikhana