JOINT Task Force (JTF) has arrested another 122 suspected militants after another raid of slum settlements in some parts of Port Harcourt . This development brings the number of suspected militants arrested between Tuesday last week to date by the security body to about 360.

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Spokesman of the body in the state, Lieutenant Col Sagir Musa said areas of the state capital raided in the early hours of yesterday included Abuja , Bundu water fronts etc.

“Following report on the alleged move by militants to embark on fresh recruitment drive in the state to replace their human losses, a cordon and search operation was conducted in designated hideouts of militants like Ibeto cement areas, Dockyard, Abuja , and Bundu areas. 122 suspects were subsequently arrested and handed over to police.

Not a single shot was fired during the operation, nobody was killed or wounded. Relevant agency has since commenced investigation and those found culpable will be prosecuted and those not liable will be released accordingly”.

Meanwhile, an end appears in sight for militancy in the Niger Delta as Ijaw Youth Council, eastern zone has issued a 90-day ultimatum to militant groups in the region to beat a retreat from their criminal acts or be smoked out from their various camps and be handed over to security agencies.

Handing down this ultimatum weekend at a briefing in Port Harcourt, Chairman of the Youth zone, Comrade Alali Horsfall who spoke amidst tight security provided by youths said the end had come for rascals and bandits in the region as their acts of thuggery and banditry would no longer be condoned by responsible youth bodies in the region.

It has become unbearable to us, the alarming rate of kidnapping, sea piracy, rape, cultism, armed banditry etc. Its so unfortunate to note that these inhuman crimes committed by these dissidents often times referred to as militants has debased and discredited the essence of our genuine struggle for the liberation and emancipation of our people”

Enough is enough, I cannot fold my arms to watch these hoodlums highjack our struggle. It is in the strength of this that am giving them a grace period of 90 days to either desist from all these acts of criminality or should be ready to incur the wraght of Egbesu and they will be smoked out from their hiding places and will subsequently be handed over to the law enforcement agencies for onward prosecution, so that it will serve as deterrent to others.

It is my ardent belief that if this ugly incident is not nipped in the bud, it will degenerate to an unbearable level and definitely have an adverse effect on the mental psychic of our younger generation,” Horsfall said.

While calling for amnesty for militants willing to dump criminalities he also urged the JTF to exercise some level of caution as they carry out their role of policing the region. He said he was worried that innocent lives were mostly affected in the war between militants and the security body.

Adding, he said, the lasting way out of the problem of the region was for government to repeal obnoxious laws affecting development of the area and also provide physical and infrastructural development for the region

Also, speaking against the back drop of a publication in one of the national dailies (not Vanguard) spokesman of the JTF in the state, Lieutenant Col Sagir Musa said it was not true that the former Chief of Defence Staff, Andrew Owoye Azazi treated the issues of militancy with kid gloves. According to him, the security body had its mandate in the region. And this has guided all its operations in the area.

“The JTF has a mandate, rules of engagement and standing laws and principles guiding its operations in the niger delta and it has not changed. For the avoidance of doubt, the CDS has not and will not say anything disparaging on the former CDS.

The Nigerian armed forces will continue to hold Gen Azazi in high esteem and thank him for his immense contribution to the armed forces and the nation in general”, he said.