The Nigeria military may have concluded plans to attack some riverine communities in the volatile Niger delta region with chemical bomb. The latest strategy comes in the wake of increased clashes between militants and soldiers deployed to the region to maintain peace.  

Recent violence in Rivers State has claimed over 20 lives within the last one week fuelling speculations that the Niger delta militants have declared full-scale war on the federal government.  

The plot to bomb the communities with chemicals according to our impeccable source was arrived at after the soldiers confessed their inability to track down the militants in the creeks as the mangrove forests in the riverine communities cannot be surveyed from aerial view with helicopters.  

The Nigerian military according to our source is pained by the ‘support’ the militants enjoy from residents of the riverine communities who have turned down federal government overtures seeking their assistance to fish out the kingpins of the militants groups and their collaborators.  

The military has already launched a deadly mission of ‘fire for fire’ to match the militants firepower which has often sent shivers down the spines of ill-equipped Nigerian police.  

A manhunt for militants has also resulted in the wanton arrest of innocent residents of Port Harcourt and environs as most of the militants have already relocated to the creeks.  

Checkpoints are mounted by soldiers at various locations in a commando-style and residents are subjected to all manner of frisking and harassment by stern-looking soldiers.  

Movements in and out of Rivers State has unofficially being restricted as residents retire to their beds early for fear of being caught in the crossfire between soldiers and militants or tactically evading unwarranted arrest for ‘loitering’ by soldiers.  

Meanwhile, an ethnic war is thickening between the dominant Ikwerre tribe and their Ijaw neighbors in the riverine communities made up of Okrika and Kalabari.  

Governor Celestine Omehia, who is the first Ikwerre son to govern Rivers State, is believed to have pointed accusing fingers at the riverine communities of plotting to destabilize his government with the recent upsurge in violence.  

The governor has tactically shoved away his perceived detractors by appointing his kinsmen and loyalists into sensitive posts to avoid the ‘opposition’ penetrating his camp.  

The riverine communities have already frowned at this development and also distanced themselves from allegations making the rounds that they were behind calls for the imposition of a state of emergency in Rivers State .