By Joshua Egbodo Abuja
House of Representatives has called on the Chief of Defence Staff to ensure immediate stoppage of the indiscriminate attack by military men on innocent citizens in Ekeremor local government area of Bayelsa state. Th e House has urged security agencies to ensure they fi sh out the perpetrators, while National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) should provide relief materials, like medical and social needs, for the victims.
Th is was a fallout of a motion, sponsored under matters of urgent public importance by Hon. Frederick Agbedi on “Military incursion in Letugbene Community in the Ekeremor LGA of Bayelsa State”. Agbedi recalled that as a result of pipeline vandalism in the Niger Delta region, the Late President Umaru Yar’adua administration commissioned a Joint Military Task Force to check the vandals. According to him, a condemnable criminal act took place on July 12, 2017 where some unknown persons attacked a joint military checkpoint in the Ogbobagbene Community in Burutu local government area of Delta state, adding that the attack led to the death of a soldier, and arms and ammunitions carted away, as a result of which the Joint Task Force invaded the community, set several houses ablaze, while indigenes, including women and children, were beaten and wounded.
“Th is resulted in the indigenes running away into the forest for safety, up till this very moment, the whereabouts of one Mr. Abraham Ajasco, Mrs. Rebecca Warenumu and her 8 months old baby, are still unknown”, he said. Speaking further, the lawmaker said there was an urgent need for the prompt and immediate cessation of the actions of the Military Joint Task Force in Letugbene and any other community in Ekeremor Local Government Area of Bayelsa, “to avert further loss of lives and property”.
