Ijaw Youths, PANDEF Warns Army Over Operation Crocodile Smile

More groups in the Southern region have warned against the planned Operation Crocodile Smile II by the Nigerian Army. The Army on Wednesday said the operation would go after the Badoo group and other criminal organizations in the South.

Director, Public Relations, Brig. Gen. Sani Usman, explained that the military operations – Egwu Eke II and Crocodile Smile II – like the earlier operations, were not targeted at “any particular ethnic group or group of individuals”.

Reacting, Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, and the Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, advised the Nigerian government to reconsider the planned deployment, saying the move could undermine the relative peace in the region.

PANDEF Coordinating Secretary, Dr. Alfred Mulade, said deployment of soldiers was “misadvised and ill-conceived especially at this time when the geopolitical zone is gradually coming to terms with the urgent need for sustaining the relative peace in the region.”

UCJ, UNILORIN.