TVC N. The Army yesterday began a manhunt for militants in Niger Delta. That was even as scores of women from Iwhre-Nene community in Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State, blocked a part of the East-West road in protest against an alleged intimidation and arrest of indigenes of the community by soldiers.
Security Operatives from 122 Battalion, Nigerian Army, Agbarha- Otor in Ughelli, have been combing communities in Ughelli since Monday, when the militant group claimed it breached the Afiesere-Ekiugbo delivery trunk line operated by NPDC/Shoreline under its Operation Crocodile Tears. Further security sources told New Telegraph that soldiers had succeeded in effecting some arrests that would lead to the apprehension of the masterminds of the series of attacks on oil pipelines in the area.
But as the security agents intensified efforts to pick the perpetrators of the act yesterday, several women trooped to the East-West road leading to Bayelsa and Rivers states in protest against what was described as intimidation and indiscriminate arrests of the men by the soldiers. The protesters carried placard with inscriptions like; “Nigeria Army and NPDC know who vandalised their pipeline,”
“Do not drag our President General and our community’s image into the mud” and “Our President General is not the Chief Security Officer for oil pipelines.” As early as 8am, they stormed the road and disrupted vehicular movement for less than an hour thereby causing a gridlock for road users heading towards Bayelsa and Rivers states from Warri.
