Says Okah Called Him Last Week
SIXTY-THREE militants responsible for the recent spate of attacks on oil facilities and abduction of expatriate and Nigerian oil workers in the Niger Delta have been arrested.
SIXTY-THREE militants responsible for the recent spate of attacks on oil facilities and abduction of expatriate and Nigerian oil workers in the Niger Delta have been arrested.
Among those arrested yesterday by the Joint Task Force (JTF) is Obese Kuna, the group’s commander, who was among the thousands of former militants that accepted the Federal Government amnesty in the region.
Obese, however, alleged that Henry Okah, who is on trial in South Africa over the October 1 bombings in Abuja, was their main sponsor.
According to him, Okah called him last week but he dropped the call because he had decided to surrender himself to the authorities.
Obese’s armed group recently seized 19 who were last Wednesday freed by the authorities, following an offensive launched by the JTF targeting Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers States.
The hostages included 12 Nigerians, two Americans, two Frenchmen, one Canadian and two Indonesians.
JTF, code-named, Operation Restore Hope, said Obese voluntarily surrendered himself and his cohorts following sustained onslaught by the JTF on his camps around Bonny in Rivers State.
The offensive was the largest military campaign in the Niger Delta since the government offered an amnesty programme in 2007.
Commander of the JTF, Major General Charles Omoregie, who paraded the militants at the Air Force Base, Port Harcourt, said the military intensively raided three of Obese’s camps and recovered 45 AK-47 riffles, 12 general-purpose machine guns, several thousands of assorted ammunition and the sum of N673,000 and.
Other recovered items include brand new military boots and vests, combat uniforms, telescope, several GSM mobile phones, laptops, communication gadgets, such as walkie-talkie, barges with MEND insignia and bulletproof vests.
Omoregie accused 25-year-old Obese, who was ex-MEND commander, Dagogo Farah’s boy, of masterminding the recent attacks on oil facilities and abduction of 19 oil workers.
“These weapons were recovered from three camps that were run by Obese, who released those 19 hostages to us from his camp and volunteered to give up himself.
No comments:
Post a Comment