Gunmen invade community kill and disappear with corpses of victims in Rivers

* Community Youth leader  lament absence of operational vehicle for existing Police station.

BY IBRAHIM BAKARE

Residents of Bunu Community in Tai Local Government Area of Rivers State were gripped with fear in early hours of  Saturday, August 8 as unknown gunmen invaded the area sporadically for several hours of the night.

Heavy shooting by the unknown gunmen may have left their targetted persons dead.It was difficult to ascertain the number killed as the assailants disappeared with their corpses leaving pools of blood on their trail.

 File photo of typical gunmen in the Niger Delta.

The Tai Local Government Chairman in Ogoniland Dr. Jacobson Barineka Nbina.

The Youth leader of the community Justin Wabah, is quoted as saying that heavy shooting occurred in the community around 2am and a thick pool of blood was discovered at the Bunu-Taaga Road by now abandoned Rivers State Songhai farm.

He however said that despite the pool of blood, there were no corpses or injured suggesting that the dead and those injured might have been taken away by the gunmen.

Wabah said that the community has experienced incessant killings in recent times as there  is no noticeable presence of security operatives on patrol in the area, regretting  that the nearest Police Division has no patrol vehicle.
“The volume of blood suggested some persons may have been killed and the corpses taken away. We searched the surrounding bushes but could not find any body. Some residents ran into the bush without light in that thick darkness in fear, sustaining injuries in the process.
 “We have been experiencing much killings here and there and it is not giving us a good face. We need security patrol. Koroma Police Division has no patrol vehicle. We need regular Police presence on this our road because this is not the first time we have recorded this very act.” 
The manner of invasion may not be unconnected to rival cult gang reprisal attack on their perceived enemies as there has not been any form of communal clashes in the area for quite some time.

There has not been Official confirmation from the Police Command at the time of filing this report.

However, it would be recalled that the Spokesman of the Rivers State Police Command, SP Nnamdi Omoni, has a few month ago criticized purported denunciation of Cultism and alleged surundering  of weapons by alleged Cultists organized by the Tai Local Government Council as a charade.

Recall could be made that the Rivers State Police Command had described the amnesty on the 26 of June 2020, exercise supposedly granted scores of self-confessed cultists in Tai Local government area recently as mere window dressing and unacceptable.

The spokesman of the Command, Nnamdi Omoni, who noted this while reacting to the alleged  refusal by the cultists to surrender their sophisticated weapons said the cultists are not yet ready to cooperate with the local government authorities and agents of government.

Omoni said  the claim of denouncement of criminal activities by the self-confessed cultists without their surrendering their arms and ammunition was make-belief .
He confirmed that negotiations are still ongoing with the cultists and a carrot and stick approach will be adopted, but if they failed to utilize the amnesty window offered to them, the full weight of the law would be applied.

On the 26 of June 2020, some youths claimed to have denounced cultism in Tai Local Government Area, in Ogoniland and submitted operational weapons.

The youths took advantage of the amnesty programme initiated by the Tai Local Government Chairman in Ogoniland Dr. Jacobson Barineka Nbina.
There were reports that the council boss released the sum of 7.3 million naira to the those who submitted weapons and charms they use in their operations.
However, Beatrice Akeenam, a youth leader from the local government expressed reservations over the nature of weapons submitted. She alleged the youths were not being sincere with the number of arms in their possession, insisting that the number of cultists related attacks and deaths does not tally with those presented at the ceremony.