Justice In Nigeria Now update:

We have received reports from several sources that the Nigerian Military’s joint task force has the community of Ayakoromo under attack again as it engages militant John Togo in battle in Bobougbene Creek of Delta State.

The community of Ayakoromo had been previously bombed by the Nigerian Military in December 2010. More information on the December attack can be found here and some of the damage from the December bombing can be seen below.

Photo is from the December 2010 JTF attack on Ayakoromo. Photo credit: www.ayakoromo.org

Restraint urged amid Nigeria election unrest, Amnesty International

18 April 2011

The Nigerian military must not use excessive force to quell riots and demonstrations taking place around the imminent announcement of presidential election results, Amnesty International said today.

“We are extremely concerned about the escalation of violence in northern and central Nigeria by protestors and urge the Nigerian authorities to ensure that excessive force is not used against protesters,” said Tawanda Hondora, Amnesty International’s deputy director for Africa.

“Political leaders on all sides must act responsibly and tell their supporters to stop all acts of violence and human rights abuses.”

Rioting and violent attacks have been reported in the north and centre of the country, including Kaduna, Kano, Gombe, Adamawa, Bauchi and Plateau states and the Federal Capital Territory.

“The security forces’ response to this unrest must not lead to further human rights violations. The police and military must respect human life and use proportionate means to police demonstrations,” said Tawanda Hondora.

Presidential poll results show incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan is set to win.

Amnesty International issued a report last month highlighting how hundreds of people have been killed in politically-motivated, communal and sectarian violence across Nigeria ahead of presidential and parliamentary polls.

Lethal illegal refineries dot Nigeria’s oil delta, by Samuel Tife, Reuters
Africa, Sun Mar 6, 2011 8:21am GMT

ODIGBO, Nigeria (Reuters) – A Nigerian soldier opens fire into drums of gasoline stacked among the mangroves, then runs back to a safe distance.

His colleagues set light to rags on the end of a stick and fling them into the liquid seeping from the bullet holes. The heat forces them to look away as orange flames roar into the air, billowing thick, black smoke.

Smoke rises from an illegal crude oil refinery site in an Ogoni community in Nigeria's Niger Delta July 7, 2010. REUTERS/Akintunde Akinleye

Destroying illegal oil refineries dotted among the creeks of the Niger Delta is almost as dangerous for these soldiers as working here was for the young men who turned stolen crude oil into home-made gasoline.

Crude oil thieves — known locally as “bunkerers” — have been a fact of life for years in Africa’s biggest oil and gas industry, puncturing pipelines and costing Nigeria and foreign oil firms millions of dollars in lost revenues each year.

A government amnesty two years ago for gunmen in the Niger Delta, where
dirt-poor thatch-roofed villages sit among some of Africa’s biggest industry installations, brought some respite.

But rising world oil prices have pushed the cost of gasoline in Nigeria up by a third to 150 naira a litre over the past three months, increasing demand on the black market and making the illegal refineries as profitable as ever.

“The local communities raised the alarm because of the devastating effects on their waterways and farms, and complaints have also started coming from the oil majors,” said Timothy Antigha, military spokesman in the Niger Delta.

“We are winning the battle. The situation would have been worse if we were not around,” he said.

A hundred soldiers backed up by gunboats and two helicopters were involved in Saturday’s operation, which targeted three illegal refineries around Odigbo, a village near the border between Bayelsa and Rivers states.

By the time the soldiers arrived, abandoned barrels of gasoline, blackened earth pits and scorched foliage were all that remained — these are close-knit communities and the bunkerers knew the military were coming.

The army seized equipment including home-made pumps and welding machines, but no arrests were made.

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Activist: Civilian deaths in Nigeria’s oil delta by Jon Bambrell, Associated Press – Fri Dec 3, 4:19 pm ET

WARRI, Nigeria – Nigerian warplanes bombed a village near a militant camp and soldiers opened fire with machine guns, killing as many as 150 people, human rights activists and witnesses said Friday.

image credit: next

Oghebejabor Ikim, national coordinator for the Forum of Justice and Human Rights Defense, told The Associated Press civilians have suffered a heavy toll in the military operation that began Wednesday. He said as many as 150 had died around the village of Ayakoromo, though he could only offer a list of 14 names of those dead who have already been identified. The lawyer said many people remained hiding and mourning in the region’s winding creeks.

The attacks on a village in the Niger Delta continued Friday as the military tried to kill or capture a militant called John Togo who runs the attacked camps and who officials said gave up on a government-sponsored amnesty program. The amnesty program for militants brought an uneasy calm to a region vital to U.S. oil supplies, which is now threatened by new militant attacks and government offensives that put civilians at risk.

In a statement issued late Friday, a military spokesman said any civilian building targeted by soldiers had been used by militants as cover, meaning they became “a military target.”

The military “wishes to state categorically that it did not carry out any genocide in Ayakoromo, neither was Ayakoromo or any other community its target,” the statement from Lt. Col. Timothy Antigha said.

The statement did not offer any death toll for the operation targeting the village and surrounding communities.

“I can describe it as a killing spree of innocent civilians,” Ikim said. “Houses have been burnt. Women are raped. There are killings. Is that how to get at John Togo?”

There appeared to be confusion about whether those in Ayakoromo initially fought back when the military began their assault Wednesday afternoon. Ikim said all of Togo’s fighters left the area before the fighting, while a witness in a nearby village told the AP by telephone that “there was shooting from both sides.”

The witness said the military had returned several times to launch new assaults, calling in heavy machine gun fire from patrolling Navy vessels and dropping bombs from military aircraft. One attack took place Friday morning, he said.

“We could only hear the sound — boom boom boom — everywhere,” he said. “Everyone (was) running.”

The man spoke on the condition of anonymity as he remained fearful of being targeted by military forces for speaking publicly about the attacks.

Amnesty International issued a statement Friday saying one eyewitness who spoke to its researchers said he saw soldiers transferring more than 20 bodies from boats to military vehicles.

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More news on the military attacks in the Niger Delta:

Ijaw Peoples Council wants JTF to limit attacks to militants, Vanguard, Dapo Akinrefon, Nov 18, 2010

A Niger Delta group, Ijaw Peoples Congress, IPC, has called on the Commandant of the Joint Task Force in the Niger Delta to limit their attack to militants in Ughelli South and Burutu Local Government Areas of Delta State.

In a statement by its national president, Mr. Ekanpou Enewaridideke, the group expressed worry over the deployment of soldiers to the councils in the state, noting that the councils were in no way connected with the militants.

“We condemn in strong terms, any resurgence of militancy in the Niger Delta and will assist in any capacity to curb the menace. Let the public know that Ayakoromo is a community of intellectuals, who are diametrically opposed to militancy in any form and therefore, do disassociate ourselves from any form of complicity or companionship with John Togo in the on-going battle between him and JTF soldiers.

“We wish to place on record that JTF soldiers should limit their attack to only John Togo’s camp. The commandant of JTF should carry out his military operation in such a way that innocent and harmless people and communities are not affected.

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“Already stray bullets have begun flying to Ayakoromo in invasive torrents and this must stop because Ayakoromo people are not part of the war,” he said. While urging the JTF commander to refrain from harming innocent people in the areas, he said what happened in Gbaramatu should not be allowed to repeat itself.

“We wish to say that communities such as Akparemogbene, Oyangbene, Ogbobabougbene, Okwagbe, Egbo-Idei, Ekameta, Egolegbene, Gbekebor, Eseimogbene, Newtown and many others are in the vicinity of Ayakoromo and these communities are peaceful and anti-militancy and will not applaud militancy in any form,” he said.

The Nigerian joint military task force (JTF) carried out a land, air, and marine assault in the Niger Delta, freeing 19 hostages and raiding two suspected criminal camps after several kidnappings and attacks on oil facilities.

“At the moment we have ongoing operations in several locations simultaneously,” JTF spokesman Timothy Antigha was earlier quoted by Reuters as saying before the hostages were freed.

The military had warned on Saturday it planned to carry out raids on suspected criminal camps in the Niger Delta and told civilians in the vicinity to leave.

A major military offensive would be the first in the heartland since an amnesty brokered by late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua began in August 2009.

JTF Attacks More Militant Camps, Frees 19 Hostages, Paul Ohia with Agency Reports, All Africa, 17 November 2010