Army Medical Outreach: Gbaramatu Monarch Urges Army To Stay Away From His Kingdom

The traditional ruler of Gbararmatu Kingdom in Delta State, Pere Oboro Gbaraun II, Aketekpe, has called on the Nigerian Army to stay away from his domain until it sensitized the people of the area about the medical outreach programme.

The monarch who spoke through the Secretary General of the Traditional Council of Chiefs, Chief Godspower Gbenekama said that the ongoing Nigerian Army Medical Outreach programme which had caused wide spread panic, and fear among residents of the Southeast and Niger Delta region, should be shelve for now.

He said that his people have been traumatized over the health programme which ought to bring succour to them.

According to him, the Army failed to sensitized the people of the programme, particularly after their so-called operations “Python Dance” and “Crocodile Smile” which he described as anti-people operations.

“Operation Crocodile Smile by the Army has brought tears to our people in the past, same with the Python Dance in the Southeast and other operations so the people now believe anything Army is synonymous to pain, panic, tears, death and rape. So I want to say that the Nigerian Army goofed by not conducting awareness campaign about the medical outreach before storming the communities.

“For us in Gbaramatu, we don’t want an army medical programme for now despite the fact that our people need medical care because we lack good hospitals, we don’t want that of Army. If I may ask must it be Army, can the government send an independent medical body, because you can imagine the scare it cause in Warri which is an upland, what do you think will happen if it was in the riverine communities.

‘In as much as our people love the programme, they also don’t want to die prematurely, they don’t want a programme that would kill them through heart attack before it is conducted. The scare that it would cause in the riverine would be unprecedented if they (army) venture into the river so we are asking them to shelve the programme until they conduct a proper awareness, and engage the leaders”

He however allayed fears of residents of the riverine communities over fear that the army would also take the medical outreach programme to the coast, saying no responsible government would deployed an arm of its military to inject innocent people to death.

[Widget_Twitter id =”1″]