The Niger Delta Avengers has refuted Nigerian Army claims that it has arrested 10 members of the militant group and also said that fifty soldiers drowned while on a hunt for the militants.
In a series of tweets on Tuesday, May 31, 2015, the group accused the chief of army staff, General Tukur Buratai of lying to President Muhammadu Buhari over the army’s “successes” in the Niger Delta.
The group says that the 10 young men arrested and paraded by the Nigerian Army over the weekend are innocent people who have nothing to do with the guerrilla group operating in the oil-rich Niger Delta region of Southern Nigeria. The group says none of its “strike teams” have been arrested and the whole story is army propaganda.
The commander of 4 Brigade of the Nigerian Army, Brigadier-General Farouk Yahaya, who paraded the suspected militants on Sunday, May 29, 2016 at the brigade headquarters in Benin, Edo state, said they were arrested at about 1:40am on Saturday, in Oporoza community in Delta State, “following a cordon and search operation conducted in the community”.
A local Delta newspaper, Gbaramatu Voice Newspaper reported that the ten youths arrested and paraded by the Nigerian Army are not members of any militant groups, but students of Gbaraun Grammar School in Oporoza, the location of a brutal army invasion over the weekend.
RELATED: 10 Youth Arrested By Army As Suspected Niger Delta Avengers Mostly Students [See List]
https://twitter.com/NDAvengers/status/737548280783982593
According to the group, “The chief of army staff, General T.Y. Buratai in his statement said that the Niger Delta Avengers killed Nigerian soldiers. It’s a big lie. The chief of army staff deployed personnel without amphibian training to the creeks that led to the death of 50 soldiers.
“If not for the help of local fishermen, the death rate should have been up to 100. He has been lying to his commander-in-chief, President Buhari that Nigeria Delta Avengers killed soldiers.
“This is our stand; we have not killed any soldier. If we do, we will claim responsibility because we take pride and responsibility in all we are doing. That’s our code.
“God bless the Niger Delta Republic,” the group ended its photo message on its Twitter handle.
https://twitter.com/NDAvengers/status/737612808347492363
The group also says that Nigerian troops have not engaged them in any kind of battle. Then they issued a warning, “but if they want us to kill them [soldiers], let them come after us”.
https://twitter.com/NDAvengers/status/737549317674663940
The militants have also accused soldiers of raping girls in Gbaramatu Kingdom in Delta State following a brutal weekend raid and occupation of the community which is the home of former Niger Delta warlord, Tompolo. The group promised to revenge the alleged acts of crimes against humanity.
