Military on High Alert as Militants Declare N’Delta Republic Today

Barring any last minute changes, the Adaka Boro Avengers (ABA), a group of Ijaw militants, which has vowed to declare the independent Republic of Niger Delta, may today make good its threat.

But without mincing words, the Nigerian military has warned that the declaration by the little known warlords would be met with the strongest resistance, adding that it would not allow anybody to hold the country to ransom.

However, following the threat to declare the Republic of Niger Delta, residents of several Ijaw communities are not leaving anything to chance and have started to flee Kaiama, the hometown of the late Major Jasper Adaka Boro in Kolokuma Opukuma Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.

Without mentioning names, but in apparent reference to the group, the Joint Task Force Commander in the Niger Delta, codenamed Operation Delta Safe, Rear Admiral Joseph Okojie, told journalists yesterday that the Nigerian Armed Forces would not abdicate their responsibility to protect lives, property and the territorial integrity of the country.

Describing the group’s threat to secede as “faceless”, Okojie asked the people of the region to go about their normal duties, noting that no group or individual could stop anybody from any region in the country to go about their normal business.

“This is to reassure the good people of the Niger Delta that Operation Delta Safe is firmly on the ground to protect them,” he said.