IYC kicks as Operation Crocodile Smile begins in Niger Delta

Ahead of the commencement of Operation Crocodile Smile 111 by the Nigerian Armed Forces in the Niger Delta this week, the umbrella body of all Ijaw youths, the Ijaw National Council (IYC), has kicked against the exercise, branding it a futile and wasteful venture.

President, IYC worldwide, Pereotubo Oweilaemi, in a statement made available to Nigerian Tribune in Warri, Delta State, said the exercise was always characterised by tales of sorrows and tears in the creeks of the Niger Delta.

The exercise, which is annually carried out to consolidate peace and security in the region in order to boost economic activities in the region, is expected to be declared open tomorrow, by the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, in Warri, Delta State.

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Oweilaemi said the 2016 version of the exercise culminated in the invasion and looting of the Gbaraun Egbesu Shrine, the killing of Chief Thomas Osein Ekpemupolo, the father of Chief Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo and the arrest and detention of about 20 Oporoza youths who got freedom after public outcry.

“The planned yet another provocative and needless military drill in the Niger Delta code-named: “Operation Crocodile Smile III” is nothing but a wasteful venture.

“The Nigerian Army or the military Joint Task Force (JTF) is just wasting the taxpayers’ money in prosecuting a fruitless venture which had never recorded any success in time past.

“The only success stories it can boost of in the previous exercises were the human rights abuses occasioned by the criminal invasions and destructions of Ijaw communities without provocation.

“When it first launched the exercise in 2016, the military used the peaceful Gbaramatu Kingdom in Warri South West Local Government  Area of Delta State as its theatre of war thereby maiming and harassing innocent citizens which culminated in the invasion and looting of the Gbaraun Egbesu Shrine.

“It ended up in killing Chief Thomas Osein Ekpemupolo, the father of Government Ekpemupolo, while innocent Oporoza youths numbering about 20 persons were arrested and dumped in its dungeon without trial for more than a year before they were released courtesy of public outcry.

“Again, not done with the atrocities it has committed in the Gbaramatu Kingdom in Delta State, the military allegedly terrorised Ijaw communities in the Niger Delta.

“At last, Ajapa, Safarogbo and Igangbo in Ondo State were completely burnt down by the Joint Task Force.

“Its second coming in 2017 was another horrible experience to Ijaw people in the Niger Delta.

“In the name of carrying out mop up operations, the said Military Joint Task Force invaded and destroyed Ajakurama Community in Egbema Kingdom in Edo State, while some innocent communities were terrorised in Nembe Kingdom and its environs in Bayelsa State in the name searching for pipeline vandals.

“In Bennet Island in Ogbe-Ijoh Warri Kingdom, the experience was the same.

“None of these bloody exercises have curbed the menace of illegal oil bunkering neither did they stop the oil crisis in the region.

“The peace we are enjoying today in the region is because of the brain child of the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo in collaboration with the leaders of the region.

“Military action has never addressed the Niger Delta crisis. No amount of force can stop the people from agitating for their rights.

According to the IYC president, the group rejected the said Operation Crocodile Smile III and called on President Muhammadu Buhari to call the military to order.

He opined that “What Niger Delta people need now is development backed up by community policing which should be supervised by the civil police.”

While warning that the Niger Delta region should not be unduly militarised in order to cause an unnecessary tension, the group appealed to the Ijaw communities to be law-abiding, but resolute in demanding the right thing be done in the region.