Avengers: Gbaramatu women to stage protest in Abuja

Women from the embattled Gbaramatu kingdom of Delta State have broken silence over the arrest of their children by the Joint Military Task Force while searching for the members of the Niger Delta Avengers in the kingdom.
The women, who painted the city of Warri red on Wednesday, gave the federal government and the military personnel seven days to release their children saying those arrested are not members of avengers but innocent Gbaramatu youths.
The women who protested round the city of Warri said the youths arrested were not militants but students who were preparing to write the National Examinations Council (NECO) exams.
They demanded the immediate release of their children, calling on the federal government and the military authorities to release the children to their weeping mothers.
Mrs. Veronica Tambowei, National Leader of Ijaw Women, who spoke on behalf of the women, said the federal government is oppressing the people of the kingdom, noting that the people are being falsely accused of militancy by the government of Nigeria.
Aggrieved women protesting the kidnap of their children by the Military men
She said if the federal government fails to release their children within seven days, Gbaramatu women would stage another protest march to Abuja, the federal seat of power, to meet President Muhammadu Buhari.
She added that if the children are reported dead, the military authorities should be prepared to kill all of them along with their children in Abuja.
According to her: “Buhari’s government has sent the army to kill our children, if they say they are not dead, we are asking them to bring back our children for us. They should bring our innocent children back to us, if not we will march to Abuja.”
She said the military dragged the youths out of their sleep in the dead hour of the night and whisked them to unknown destination. She said upon the seizure of the youths, the army raised allegation of militancy against them and laid guns in their hands.
The women said failure to release the children upon the expiration of the seven days ultimatum, the federal government and the military should be prepared to arrest all Gbaramatu women in Abuja.
She noted that the mothers of the children arrested are crying day and night over the whereabouts of their children, maintaining that the children must have been killed by the heartless soldiers.
“Now I know that the police and the army are liars. They arrested our innocent children and put guns in their hands and called them members of Niger Delta Avengers. It is bad that soldiers can arrest anybody and label them as criminals,” she said.