The Ijaw Publishers Forum (IPF) has refuted reports that the attack on military personnel in the Okuama community in Delta State was carried out by irate Ijaws.
The group stated this while reacting to the report titled ‘Irate Ijaw youths kill army commander, others in Delta’ published by Vanguard Newspaper.
In a statement signed by Comrade Ozobo Austin and Tare Magbei, President and Secretary General, respectively, the organization urged the publication to apologize and retract the allegation within 48 hours.
The statement reads, “The attention of the Ijaw Publishers Forum, IPF, has been drawn to the mischievous news that it was Ijaw irate youth that attacked and killed military men in Okuama community in Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State.
“Ordinarily, we shouldn’t have responded, but it has become necessary to refute the falsehood being peddled because the story is coming from the revered Vanguard Newspaper.
“We wish to state unequivocally that it was not Ijaws that attacked the military men in Delta State, and that the Okuama community where the incident took place is an Urhobo-speaking community in Ughelli South local government and not an Ijaw community in Bomadi Local Government Area.
“This is a fact that the military on the ground is aware of. Twisting the facts by a respected paper is not only disappointing, but one could say that Vanguard is conniving with certain characters to malign the Ijaw nation.
“The misplacement of facts coming from a major newspaper is highly disturbing, and such could give a bad image about the newspaper.
“The report, which was authored by one Kingsley Omonobi in Vanguard Newspaper, should be disregarded and ignored as it was a complete misplacement of facts with intentions to damage the hard-earned reputation of the Ijaw nation and to make the military turn against our people for what they know nothing about.
“Again, we wish to reiterate that Ijaws in Delta State and Nigeria do not fight with the Nigerian military and never at any time resort to killing Nigerian military personnel for doing their legitimate duty.
“On this note, we call on Vanguard Newspaper to make a retraction and apologize to Ijaws in Delta State and Niger Nigeria at large within 48 hours for the damages the said report has caused.”hhh
