...Residents flee community to avoid attack

Sun News

16 May 2011

...Residents flee community to avoid attack

Thousands of residents of Ayakoromor community again fled their homes, following raid of the Joint Task Force (JTF) on the trail of John Togo of the Niger Delta Liberation Force NDLF.

Daily Sun gathered that Togo, a militant commander, and his men were set to surrender their arms at Ayakoromor last week but the JTF, apparently misunderstood their motive, and sent a large troop to the community, causing panic and apprehension amongst residents.

It was also gathered that the JTF did not want to be taken unawares despite the fact that Togo wanted to finally partake in the disarmament exercise by accepting the amnesty for the second time. The spokesman of the NDLF, Mark Anthony, accused the JTF in a statement of deliberately commencing a military operation to justify their stay in the creeks of the Niger Delta region.

The group said they had long maintained their position on ceasefire and wondered why the JTF would be overrunning their camps with aerial attacks, saying they would not be intimidated. National Co-coordinator of Ijaw Youth Welfare Association (IYWA), Alawei Cleric, who reacted, said the way JTF was going about their manhunt was horrendous, lamenting that Ayakoromor community was now ghost of itself.