Ozobo calls for end to militarization, raising of hands, harassment of N/Delta communities

By Sola Omoniyi, Lagos

Niger Delta foremost rights activist, Comrade Ozobo Austin has called on Ijaw leaders, stakeholders, traditional rulers and politicians to prevail on the military authorities in Nigeria to stop further militarization, the raising of hands, harassment and intimidation of Ijaw and other communities in the Niger Delta region.

Ozobo who doubled as National President of Ijaw People’s Development Initiative, IPDI, while speaking at the Ijaw nation town hall meeting in Warri, Delta State said it had gotten to an alarming crescendo of the continuous military bombardments in Ijaw and other Niger Delta communities at every slightest provocation, adding that it wasn’t so among residents in northern Nigeria.

The activist reiterated that despite the high rate of Fulani militants and bandits killings of military men in northern Nigeria, no single community related to Fulani or traced to Fulani militants had been burnt down or bombed.

The youth leader said, “We will no longer accept the burning of Ijaw communities because criminal suspects hail from such communities. We will no longer condone the bombing of Ijaw or Niger Delta communities because suspected pirates clash with the military close to a community. We will not accept the invasion of Ijaw or Niger Delta communities because a military man was killed in an area close to a community.

The military in such situations should spot such criminal elements and deal decisively with them and not unlawfully attack an entire community for what they know nothing about.

He accused the Nigerian military of being selective in its operations, noting that the military onslaughts against residents of Southern Nigeria could spur the next face of the Niger Delta into crisis.

Ozobo said, “The Nigerian military does not believe in one Nigeria, it treats people of Northern Nigeria as kings and queens but when comes to Southern Nigeria, the indigenes are treated like common criminals, this is selective, divisive, nepotism, tribalistic, inimical and barbaric”.

He explained that this was the reason Niger Delta people want to leave Nigeria because there was no sigh of relief at the ongoing injustice against Ijaw people in the country.

The Niger Delta advocate further narrated that the military also humiliates, and intimidates travellers and transporters in the riverine communities by subjecting them to continue raising of hands at its checkpoints even when there is no crisis in such places now and defaulters were given corporal punishment and later pay heavy amounts for bail before being released.

He added that the military on the riverine communities should be withdrawn as they are not fighting any war, stressing that the continued stay of the military in such places amounts to a waste of taxpayers’ money.

Ozobo maintained that they should be redeployed to fight Boko Haram and Fulani militants, especially now that the military needs more manpower to end terrorism and Fulani bandits killings in northern Nigeria.

The non-violent agitator, however, called for concerted efforts and strategic engagement of the military authorities by Ijaw leaders, politicians and traditional rulers to be end militarization, raising hands and other forms of military harassment in the Niger Delta region to avoid fueling the looming crises in the region.