There was commotion on Monday night in Yeghe community, Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State as soldiers raided the house of a former militant, Solomon Ndigbara.
It was learnt that the house of the former warlord was razed by the soldiers, even as the heavy shooting continued in the area.
Indigenes of the community were said to have abandoned their homes and fled to neighbouring communities as the soldiers took over Ndigbara’s house and its surroundings.
It was gathered that the army operations were extended to Khana Local Government Area even as some people were said to have been injured while scampering to safety.
Sources said that some youths working for the former militant leader had set ablaze the campaign office of the Rivers South-East senatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Senator Magnus Abe, in Bori, Khana LGA.
The attack on Abe’s campaign office, according to a community source, was in retaliation of the soldiers’ raid of Ndigbara residence.
When contacted, the Public Relations Officer, 2 Brigade of the Nigerian Army, Port Harcourt, Captain Eli Lazarus, said there was an ongoing military operation by the Army in Gokana, promising that the media would soon be briefed on the matter.
Also, the media assistant to Abe said he would soon send a press statement on the development in Khana Local Government Area. He had yet to respond as of the time of filing this report on Monday night
Meanwhile, the Presidential Amnesty Office said that it has recovered 14,447 weapons from some ex-militants of the Niger Delta who embraced the presidential amnesty programne.
A statement from the Amnesty Office stated that the office also facilitated the destruction of the last cache of 48,401 rounds of small arms and medium calibre ammunition surrendered by the ex-militants during the disarmament phase of the programme.
It was stated that the destruction of the arms and ammunition which held under the second phase of ‘Exercise Thunder Peace’ took place at the 6 battalion of the Nigerian Army, Akwa Ibom.
It was added that the exercise was supervised by the Nigerian Army, the Office of the National Security Adviser and the Akwa Ibom State Government.
The Coordinator of the Amnesty Programme, Brig. Gen. Paul Boroh, was quoted as saying that the exercise indicated the commitment of the people of the Niger Delta to lasting peace.
He added, “No amount of time, no amount of stress, no amount of energy, no amount of resources is considered excessive in the drive to achieve sustainable peace in the Niger Delta.”
The statement quoted the officer in charge of exercise Thunder Peace, Maj. M.B. Grema, as saying that the arms and ammunition were recovered from militants who surrendered in Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo and Ondo states.
“We had shredded the previously recovered arms from the first phase of the exercise to generate a total of 62.7 tons of metals,” he was quoted as having said.
The Akwa Ibom State Governor , Udom Emmanuel, was represented at the event by the Secretary to the state government, Mr. Etekamba Umoren.
