The recent military invasion of the Letugbene community in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State by members of the Joint Task Force, JTF, over stolen rifles has been called "unacceptable and provocative" and "one too many" by the Ijaw National Congress, INC, the apex Ijaw sociocultural and politically non-partisan organisation.
When leaders and natives of the Letugbene community visited Prof. Benjamin Okaba, president of the INC, yesterday to discuss the crisis in the community, Okaba made the following statement. He urged the Bayelsa State government to form a commission of inquiry to look into the immediate and remote causes of the military attack in order to identify those responsible and ensure that the proper measures were taken.
In the interim, INC urged the Bayelsa State government to establish an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp and offer relief supplies to lessen the suffering of the community's displaced residents.
Okaba praised the neighbourhood for following the path of peace and urged the military authorities to follow the rules of engagement professionally. He expressed his disappointment that an entire neighbourhood could not be destroyed due to a small number of criminals.
Okaba who was flanked by the Chairman of Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, Central Zone, Clever Inodu, said: “The first thing to say is that there is no where in the world where the houses of people can be brought down because the military is looking for their stolen weapons.”