The increasing presence of military men in Oyigdo community of Rivers State who aims at recovering rifles taken by members of the Indigenous People of Biafra who had killed six of its operatives has however caused several of the residents to flee the area.
Spokesman for the 6 Division, Nigeria Army, Port Harcourt, Major Charles Ekeocha, said six of its men were lost to the IPOB attacks and their rifles taken.
The residents have raised alarm over the activities of the soldiers, accusing them of shooting and randomly arresting youths of the area.
Some have fled to neighbouring Iriebe town in Obio/Akpor as well as Etchez Eleme and Port Harcourt LGA’s that are not affected by the curfew imposed by the State Government.
They added that the soldiers were forcefully searching people’s homes and harassing residents
Ekeocha however said, “Our operation in Oyigbo is not targeted at innocent people. We are after the miscreants. We lost six of our men in the unrest and their weapons were carted away.
“The weapons that were taken are important. If they are not retrieved they can be used on residents of that area and Rivers State or any other part of the country. So we must retrieve those weapons. That is why we are there.”
Countering the claims that soldiers were harassing the residence he said the houses searched where possible hideouts of the IPOB members.
“The exercise going on there is to identify houses used by these so-called IPOB members because we have information. We are searching those houses to see if we can get those weapons. That is what we are doing and we are professional about it.
“It is not in our (Army) character to molest anybody as they claim. We are there to protect them after they have been crying out about the activities of IPOB and some other hoodlums last week,” he stated.
He nevertheless advised residents of the area to remain calm and to cooperate with the Command by giving them useful information that will lead to the arrest of fleeing IPOB members and recovery of weapons of its killed officers.
