By Emem Idio

Ijaw National Congress, INC, the apex Ijaw socio-cultural and politically non-partisan organisation has described the recent military invasion of Letugbene community in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State by men of the Joint Task Force, JTF, over stolen rifles as “unacceptable and provocative,” and one too many.

President of INC, Prof. Benjamin Okaba, who stated this, yesterday, when some leaders and indigenes of Letugbene community visited him in Ijaw House, Yenagoa, over the crisis in the community, urged the Bayelsa State government to set up a commission of inquiry to investigate the remote and immediate causes of the military attack with the view of identifying the culprits and ensure that appropriate measures were taken.

INC also appealed to the Bayelsa State government, in the meantime, to set up an Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, camp and provide relief materials to ameliorate the suffering of the displaced people of the community.

Commending the community for toeing the path of peace, Okaba appealed to the military authorities to be professional in the rules of engagement, regretting that a whole community cannot be destroyed because of few criminal elements.

Okaba who was flanked by the Chairman of Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, Central Zone, Clever Inodu, said: “The first thing to say is that there is no where in the world where the houses of people can be brought down because the military is looking for their stolen weapons.”