It was reported that directives from the Defence Headquarters to flush out regrouping and criminal activities by suspected gunmen led to the Wednesday gun duel between a notorious militant leader, John Togo and his boys with the JTF.
Togo, in the penultimate week had declared war on the JTF and the oil installations within the creeks and the inland of the Niger Delta, alleging that the Federal Government amnesty programme had been hijacked by some government agents. He, therefore, called for total inclusion of ex-militants into the amnesty programme from the region.
The fleeing villagers from Ayakoromo community, Ofonibenghan and Okwagbe all in Burutu and Ughelli South Local Government Areas of Delta State, in their thousands were scouting for available boats that would ferry them to distant communities that have no affinity with the militant group.
A villager who spoke with Daily Sun advised the JTF to limit its onslaught to the John Togo-led camp near Ayakoromo, stressing that the Ijaw communities that border the militant camp had no relationship with the group.
The villager who does not want his name in print said, the presenceof gunboats patrolling the area was frightening and a great source of worry. He called on the JTF to restrict its search and patrol to the militants’ camp as the villagers were not harbouring any militant, to avoid another Gbaramatu-like situation.
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