Fire Cannot Put Out Fire

FROM REUTERS: NIGERIAN ARMY IN THE NIGER DELTA.

As we say in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, "you cannot quench fire with fire!".
But this is exactly what the Federal Government is trying to do in the Niger Delta of Nigeria since Wednesday when the armed forces attacked Gbaramatu in their search and destroy mission to retaliate the killing of over 14 soldiers by the militant Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta(MEND)during the hostage taking of four foreign oil workers last month.

Reuters just reported an e-mail message from MEND:

Militants from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said the helicopter targeted ethnic Ijaw communities in the Gbaramatu area of the state. The group said this followed an attack on Wednesday in the same area.

"Our units there were authorized to shoot down this craft which they attempted with rockets and machine-gun fire. The chopper immediately abandoned its mission and fled," MEND said in an e-mail statement.REUTERS

The Nigerian Armed Forces should be withdrawn from this futile mission before the critical situation becomes worse.

From the latest reports on the military helicopter attacks on the helpless communities in the Niger Delta region, the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC)has become the scape-goat again. Because, Shell's flow stations have been blown up and millions of dollars have been lost again.

Why is President Olusegun Obasanjo behaving like a military head of state in a civilian government?