By Emma Arubi
WARRI — FORMER Deputy Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly and secretary of Uduaghan Campaign Organisation, Chief Funkekeme Solomon, has condemned the alleged killings by Joint Military Task Force, JTF, saying it was unacceptable in a democracy.

In a statement by his senior political assistant, Mr. Godwin Masah, Chief Funkekeme called on the JTF to distinguish criminality from genocide. He expressed regret over the embarrassment being caused Mr. President by John Togo and his group.

He called for a panel to investigate the resurgence of militancy in the region, and condemned militant actions. He also  condoled families, who lost their beloved ones.

Similarly, the 20-member legislative arm of the Burutu Local Government Area has appealed to the JTF to restrict their actions to militant camps only against the alleged unwarranted killings of innocent indigenes of Ayakoromo community.

Speaking to newsmen at the Delta State Broadcasting Service premises during a peaceful protest by the lawmakers in Warri, the Leader of the House, Mr  Julius Pondi, accused JTF of  going outside their rules of engagement to bomb the Ayakoromo community , thus killing scores of people and destroying property worth millions of naira.

Leader of the Legislative arm, Mr Julius Pondi, accused JTF of  going outside their rules of engagement  to bomb the Ayarkromor community , thus killing scores of people and destroying property worth several millions of naira.

Pondi stated that the people of the riverside communitives had never supported the nefarious activities of criminals and urged the military task force  to go after the rebel leader, who was earlier declared wanted over alleged kidnapping, sea piracy and other forms of criminality.

Said he: ‘’We are staging this peaceful protest to further draw  attention to the killing, looting and raping that are being perpetrated by the personnel of the Joint Task Force in Ayarkromor. The JTF knows from their intelligence report where John Togo is hiding according to what we read in the papers but they didn’t do that instead they deliberately targeted the innocent people in the community.

‘’We are not supporting activities of criminals. If they are criminals in our community, JTF should go after them and in doing that, they should protect the lives and property of the law abiding people, but they are not doing that.

The rule says that they should use light arms, but rather they went about bombing the town which resulting in the killing and burning of homes. They did that in Gbaramatu and they are doing it in Ayarkromor.