The Niger Delta Peace Movement (NDPM) on Saturday raised the alarm over the alleged deployment of a special killer squad to the six states of the South-South geopolitical zone in the ongoing governorship and House of Assembly elections.

The Secretary General of the NDPM, Comrade Jephtah Akedi, said that the killer squad of battle-tested soldiers was pulled out of Sokoto State on a mission to kill and to stop at nothing in enforcing the directive to actualise the victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the South-South.

Akedi, in a statement made available in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, said that the investigation conducted by the group revealed that “the Army High Command has assigned a ruthless officer, Maj. Al Mustapha, to lead the deadly squad comprising four officers and 130 men in its mission to execute acts of repression against the citizens during the period.”

The NDPM Scribe said that his organisation got intelligence report that the Army has also deployed one Lt. Col. Armed Aliu as the new Commander of the 343 Artillery Battalion.

He said that the NDPM was worried that the leadership of the Army decided to deploy Lt. Col. Ilelah, who was the Artillery Commander at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, “to preside over the execution of the Army’s election game plan against the states of the South-South.”

Akedi added that since his special deployment for the ‘special mission’ as the Commander of the 343 Artillery Battalion, “Ilelah has issued orders to his subordinates who have aided brazen distortion of the electoral process in support of the All Progressives Congress (APC).”

He stressed that it was important to remind the Nigerian public that the military officers who authorised the killings in Bayelsa report to Lt. Col. Ilelah.

He added “one Major Modibbo, and Major Ibrahim, who have been fingered for aiding the activities of the thugs of the APC and killer soldiers, all take directives from Lt. Ilelah.”

Akedi added that Lt. Col. Ilelah, now structured into the Operational Command of the Army as the Commander of the 343 Artillery Battalion, reports directly to Maj. Gen. Sarham, General Officer Commanding the Division 6 of the Nigerian Army, which controls the six states of the South-South.

Akedi called on the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, “to restrain his officers from tainting the service with political bias during elections.”

He said that it would be wrong for the Army to be dragged into the political dispute through the collusion of men in the corridors of power and senior officials of the service.

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