By Egufe Yafugborhi

ASSOCIATION of Retired Senior Military and Paramilitary Officers of Ogoni (ARMPOO) has lamented that growing conflicts and killings in Ogoniland were headed to a point where Ogoni elites have become self exiled, afraid to visit their home communities.

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Rear Admiral John Bakpo (ret.), Coordinator, ARMPOO, expressed the worry yesterday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, where he stressed that any member of the group engaging  in partisan politics would cease to part of it.

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The retired naval chief said, “Cultism, kidnapping, armed robbery, political violence and killings have ravaged Ogoniland and deprived it of peace and security necessary to attract development to the land. It’s so bad now that Ogoni elites who have accomplished fame and fortune in various fields are becoming internally displaced persons in their own land.

“They no longer can go home for fear of being attacked or killed. Incidentally, their absence also means they can’t established enough closeness to help in ameliorating mass poverty and joblessness among the violent youth promoting the insecurity.”