Two injured as Navy storms Delta community

AT least, two persons have been reportedly
injured in alleged midnight sporadic shootings
on Monday by Navy personnel into Naifor Island
(opposite Warri), an Ijaw community in Warri
South- West Local Government Area of Delta
State.
The victims, Mr. and Mrs. Tiemo, it was
gathered, were part of Gbaramatu residents
who fled their homes during last Saturday’s
military invasion of Oporoza town to the area
for safety.

Alarmed by the incident, aggrieved villagers,
however, took the wounded victims to the Naval
Base, which is directly opposite Naifor Island,
and left them for treatment.

But the Ijaw Youth Council, the umbrella body
of Ijaw youths worldwide, in the statement on
Tuesday, said what the military was presently
doing in Ijaw communities of Delta and Bayelsa
states amounted to genocide against their
people.

The group’s spokesman, Mr. Eric Omare, said the
people, especially women and children, were in
serious danger of massive death, if they were
not urgently rescued from the rampaging
soldiers.

“In parts of Ogbe-Ijoh, especially the Naifor
Island (opposite Warri), the Navy, throughout
the night of May 30th to May 31st, shot
sporadically into the communities and in the
process, a couple (Mr. and Mrs. Tiemo) were
critically wounded.

“Ironically, this couple only recently ran to
Naifor Island to escape the military onslaught.

The villagers, in desperation, took the critically
injured couple to the Navy base, where they left
them for the Navy. The state of this couple from
Ayakoromo community in Burutu Local
Government Area of Delta State is still unknown
at the time of issuing this statement”, the
statement added.

Recalling a similar incident in the area about a
month ago, it stated, “Therefore, there is no
singular justification why the Navy has decided
to use that particular community as its main
target to justify the huge sum of money
allocated to them to find the Avengers.”

It appealed to Nigerians and the United Nations
to quickly come to the rescue of the Ijaw people
in the Niger Delta.

But the Navy, in its reaction, dismissed the
allegation, saying it was a mere rumour that
cannot be substantiated.

Spokesperson for the Nigerian Navy Ship,
Lieutenant Lamu, told our correspondent on the
telephone that the report was untrue.