Some allegedly vandals, responsible for attacks on communities in Lagos and Ogun states in recent times are now escaping in their numbers to communities in the Ilaje and Ese-Odo local government areas of Ondo State.
Investigations on Monday showed that the insurgents, who escaped the intensified aerial bombardment by the Nigerian Air Force of their camps at Arepo, Ogun, and Ikorodu, Lagos, had been sighted in Ore, Okitipupa and the riverine communities of Ondo State.
A top security source told Punch correspondents that security reports showed that some of the militants had sneaked into the Ondo reverine communities.
He said, ‘‘Arepo can no longer contain them. Some of them have run to Ondo to hide in the riverine areas.’’
It was further gathered that some of them were still trapped in Arepo and other communities in Lagos and were making frantic moves to flee.
A source in Ese-Odo said since the military started the bombardment of the militants’ camps on Friday, many of them had fled and regrouped in Ondo State.
The source said, “We have sighted them in some communities here. It seems Arepo is too hot for them.”
A resident of Ajagba in the Irele Local Government Area of the state, who identified himself simply as Francis, said there were strange faces in the local government, adding that it was difficult to identify whether they were fleeing militants or not.’’
He said, “Many people from Niger Delta states are living with us. Some of them do have visitors staying with them, so there is no way we can know if the new faces are the fleeing militants or not. “
Another resident of the state, Musa, who lives in Ore, Odigbo Local Government Area, said the high population made it possible for the militants to run to the commercial town and hide there.
“Ore is a commercial town with people from various tribes here. It is possible for strange people to come and hide here,’’ he said.
But the Director of Public Relations and Information of the Nigerian Air Force, Group Capt. Ayodele Famuyiwa, told one of our correspondents on the telephone on Monday that the vandals were seen together on Sunday, probably to perfect a plan to run.
He said the cameras on NAF’s platforms that were used for night operations picked some of the insurgents having meetings.
He said the ongoing aerial operation against the vandals would continue until they were flushed out of the Ogun and Lagos areas completely.
The fighter aircrafts of NAF had destroyed the major camps of the vandals at Arepo, known as Fatola and Abuja, and two others during four days of sustained aerial offensive in the area.
He said, “They are almost out of Arepo, an area where they had consolidated their position. Maybe, it is so strategic to them because even in the night, they tried to come back; when we did night flying, the cameras still picked them.
“We see them coming together as if they wanted to hold meetings, maybe to run away during the day.
“Some of them tried to run into the mangrove. You know that place is very thick and that is why our operation is going to continue until we flush them out completely.”
