…Accuse Security Agencies Of Complicity
Piqued by horrendous pirate activities on Bonny waterways, a concerned group, Bonny Stakeholders Vanguard, BSV, have threatened to shut down activities, especially the boat shuttles of Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas company, NLNG, if the deplorable insecurity on the Bonny Inland continues unabated without security intervention.
The group which comprises Bonny indigenes gave this indication, even as it pointed accusing fingers on the Marine Police and the Navy for complicity in the matter.
In a statement issued in Port Harcourt, spokesperson of the group, Elder Igoni Hallsham argued that police should have openly decried, investigated and prosecuted perpetrators of violent crime on the Inland “rather than open their arms to embrace criminal accomplices, a clandestine move that stinks to high heaven.”
The group called on the Inspector-General of Police,IGP and the Chief of Naval Staff to launch an investigation into the matter. The group regretted a situation whereby, those ”who allegedly involved in various degrees of criminality and gun running on the Inland are continuously shielded from public prosecution by criminally minded security operatives.”
According to Eder Igoni, the group has evidence of existing rivalry between two cult groups in the area, the Icelanders and the Greenish. He made a specific reference to an incident which occurred on October 1, whereby the warring cultists went on shooting spree in the area. He regretted that despite reports made to the security agencies in the local government area no action had been taken so far to either arrest or prosecute them.
The group also alleged that leaders of the two rival cult groups forcefully collected homage from Okada, Keke, boat riders and taxi drivers while they continued to engage in sea piracy on the Inland. The statement alleged that some security agents in the area had already established relationship with some of the known criminals in the area, making it difficult to effect their arrest and prosecution. The group called on higher authorities to ensure the redeployment of the officers who may have spent up to two years working in the area.
The group expressed shock at the rate of criminality in the Bonny enclave, especially now that the NLNG Train 7 is about to commence. The body demanded the report of Environmental Impact Assessment of the area as it concerns security of lives and property saying this should be made public in order to establish the level of preparedness of security to tackle the menace beyond the Train 7 sites but also in the entire Bonny Kingdom. They reasoned that, with the NLNG Train 7 underway, there is the need by the federal government to draft Special Squad to tackle criminal elements in the Kingdom.
