2014 was a tough year in Bayelsa State as pirates and kidnappers wreaked havocs on its waterways, SIMON UTEBOR writes
There are high expectations from
Bayelsans in 2015 that the government and the relevant authorities will
put their acts together to check the high incidence of insecurity on the
state’s waterways.
For many indigenes and residents alike,
Bayelsa waterways could simply be described as “waters of deaths”, no
thanks to the activities of sea robbers, sea pirates and kidnappers.
In 2014, the state was many times in the
news for bad reasons due to repeated assaults that appeared to
obliterate the other seemingly good things the state government was
doing.
Observers
believe the trend became worrisome because Bayelsa, a largely littoral
state, is not getting the security on the waterways right.
While the government appeared to have
scored above average in containing criminalities in the land areas, the
coastal zones still have serious issues.
The state Governor, Chief Seriake
Dickson, had at different fora, while wooing investors into the state,
said the state was peaceful and secure.
But many believe that the statement
could not be completely true when juxtaposed with the mass murders of
travellers, traders, seafarers, security personnel and other users of
the waterways.
While it is a herculean task to count
the cases of pirates’ activities and kidnap incidents on the waterways
of Bayelsa in 2014, cases will take a long time to blot out of the
people’s cerebrum.
In January 2014, sea pirates carried out
attacks on a commercial passenger boat and a patrol boat of the Joint
Military Task Force in the Niger Delta, codenamed Operation Pulo Shield,
on the waterways and creeks of Nembe and Southern Ijaw Area of Bayelsa,
snuffing life out of at least one person.
The attack on the commercial boat
occurred along the coastal town of Ekeni in Southern Ijaw, while the
attack on the patrol boat of the JTF took place in Nembe-Bassanbiri
community of Nembe.
The attack left a soldier badly injured,
while the one on the passenger boat dispatched a businesswoman, Rhoda
Brisibe, to an early grave.
Brisibie was allegedly shot in the head while three other occupants of the ill-fated boat sustained serious injuries.
In the same month, seven pirates
attacked a Nigerian Agip Oil Company tugboat in the firm’s oil fields in
Bayelsa State, abducting the captain and engineer.
The tugboat, with six crew members, was
coming from Port Harcourt to Brass to load crude at the terminal. The
four others on board had their valuables stolen.
The incident happened at Peter’s town in the Nembe Local Government Area of the state.
In a related assault, the same month,
another gang of pirates attacked a passenger boat, taking the
passengers’ valuables and, to immobilise the boat, removed its engine.
The passengers were returning to Akassa
after attending a church service in Twon Brass, Brass Local Government
Area of the state.
Also, a PSV Cee Jay liner was allegedly attacked by pirates and boarded off the coast of Bayelsa State.
The hoodlums kidnapped the master and chief engineer and robbed the crew.
Some suspects
Subsequently, the Tug Lamnalco Hawk was attacked and boarded by three pirates in Pennington Terminal area of the state.
In March, 2014, gunmen suspected to be sea pirates attacked two tugboats operated by Agip, kidnapping the captains of the boats.
The tugboats were said to be on transit from Nembe to Port Harcourt when they came under attack.
The event led to intensified security patrols by the marine division of the Nigeria police and the JTF.
The attacked tugboats were identified as MV Ebizar and MV Smoke.
May also reflected a gory picture of insecurity in the state.
Pirates created apprehension along the Nembe-Brass waterways in the state after they ambushed a passenger boat.
It was learnt that the pirates, who rode
on a speedboat, were said to have shot sporadically into the air and
forced the boat to stop sailing.
The gunmen were said to have raided the
boat at the Obama Rice Farm, an area located between Brass and Nembe,
and dispossessed passengers of their valuables.
It was further learnt that the incident
created panic among other boats users and traders as they temporarily
stopped the movement of goods and passengers along the waterways.
Though no life was lost, the attack
created fears among travellers and traders and stopped movement of boats
along the waterways.
The passengers of the attacked boats
even refused to resume their journey until the patrol boat of the JTF
convinced them to do so.
Reacting to the incident, the then state
Commissioner of Police, Mr. Hilary Opara, said immediately they got
wind of it, he deployed gunboats in the affected area.
In June, 2014, attempts by some pirates
to seize Robert creeks to carry out their dastardly act were met with
stiff resistance as the JTF repelled their attacks.
The security outfit was said to have killed three suspected pirates during a cross-fire with the group in Nembe.
Coordinator, Joint Media Campaign Centre
of JTF, Col. Mustapha Anka, had said some 30 pirates, armed with AK-47
riffles in two speedboats, attacked the JTF patrol troops.
Anka said in repelling the attack, a soldier in the patrol and two boat operators were injured.
Also, two American sailors were kidnapped by sea pirates in an oil vessel along the coast of Bayelsa State.
The Director of Naval Information,
Commodore Kabiru Aliu, while confirming the kidnap then had said the
Nigerian Navy had received a report on the attack of a US flagged
222-foot vessel, C-Retriever, owned by U.S. marine transport group
Edison Chouest offshore.
He had said, “We are aware of the kidnap
of the two American sailors and we have directed the Central Naval
Command to see to their rescue. So, our men are on top of the
situation.”
The abducted crew members were the chief engineer and the captain of the vessel.
In July, tragedy befell Agip as pirates
attacked and killed three of its workers around the Clough Creek
waterways, Southern Ijaw LGA of the state.
One of the deceased, Mr. Hector Abbey, drowned after jumping into the water in a bid to escape from the bandits.
The boat, identified as MV Terra, was
said to have been ambushed by the gunmen when it was heading for the
firm’s Clough Creek flow station.
It was gathered that the boat was not
escorted by security operatives when it was attacked. The assailants
were said to have double-crossed the workers, who were travelling in a
speedboat and opened fire on the driver.
Abbey, 42, out of panic, was said to
have jumped into the water, but was unable to swim safely to the shores.
While his remains were later recovered by local divers, two other
persons were declared missing.
The JTF then confirmed the incident, saying the workers were travelling without an escort.
Another attempt in the month to take over a flow station was repelled by security forces.
The JTF and the police rose to the occasion when suspected pirates attacked a flow station at Ogboinbiri in Southern Ijaw.
The Marine division of the police and the JTF engaged the pirates in a gun battle in Gbarain and Ogboinbiri.
Okpara and spokesperson for JTF, Anka,
then said the efforts of the security operatives foiled the pirates’
attempt to overrun the flowstation.
Anka had said an employee of Lonestar,
an oil servicing company, working in the facility operated by Shell
Petroleum Development Company, sustained a gunshot injury during the
operation.
On his part, Okpara said some sea
pirates were killed in the shootout, adding however that the number of
casualties could not be ascertained as the bodies sank.
Okpara had said the pirates attacked the
rig at Gbarain with the intention of cutting the chain used to secure
the gunboat to the rig.
According to him, the pirates would have stolen the gunboat and removed the policemen’ guns if they had succeeded.
The same month witnessed the kidnap of the foster father of President Goodluck Jonathan, Chief Inengite Nitabai.
The 65-year-old Nitabai was whisked away from his compound in Otuoke after they gained entrance into his home.
Nitabai, who was abducted by no fewer than 10 gunmen, only regained freedom after almost a month in the kidnappers’ den.
Narrating his ordeal in the hands of his
captors, Nitabai said he was blindfolded and fed with garri and red oil
while in captivity.
The harvests of kidnapping also
continued in August as four workers of construction giant, Setraco, were
abducted in the creeks of Nembe.
The victims, Caleb Agene, Otuke Magic
Kingdom, Gabriel Oghene and Godwin Odukpong, were working on the
multi-million naira Ogbia-Nembe road when they were abducted.
The incident occurred a few days after
the state government set up an 11-man security task force, headed by a
former leader of the movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta,
Ebikabowei Victor-Ben.
The kidnap of the four infuriated
maritime workers in the state who threatened to go on an indefinite
strike if the relevant authorities failed to address the security
challenges.
The maritime workers under the aegis of
the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, Bayelsa State chapter, said it
appeared the government had failed to protect its members from attacks
by pirates.
MWUN Chairman Lloyd Sese, had said,
“Insecurity on the waterways has been our problem over the years. Sea
piracy has increased this year. The creeks and the rivers have become a
no-go area for meaningful businesses.
“Unlike the roads where armed robbers
will operate under fear that security agencies may catch up with them
and run away, pirates rob for many hours unhindered on the waterways.
“Our boats are stolen, drivers are
killed and women are raped on a daily basis. We are tired. There is no
day we are not attacked.”
On the task force set up to curb
insecurity on the waterways, Sese said, “You are asking people living in
Abuja, who built mansions there and know nothing about the waterways,
to come and secure the waterways.
“How can it work? We will withdraw our
services to stop wasting the lives of innocent citizens. The former
militants were appointed into the task force without maritime union
officials.
“These are the same people who have boys
doing one thing or the other on the waterways and you want their boss
to call them to order. It won’t work.”
Months after the threat and lack of
affirmative action from the relevant authorities, they then embarked on
an indefinite industrial action.
Sese lamented that a task force on
marine security set up by the state government to address insecurity
along the waterways failed woefully.
And October was not a good one for the
Nigeria Police as gunmen said to be sea pirates allegedly killed four
policemen and abducted six persons.
The killing of the policemen and the
abduction of the six were said to have been carried out in two separate
operations in the state.
While the killing took place along the Santa Barbara waterways, the six were abducted along the Nembe waterways in Nembe.
The gunmen also seized a gunboat belonging to the police in the incident.
It was learnt the gunboat was escorting a barge owned by Agip when the pirates attacked it.
It was further learnt that the pirates,
who operated on a speedboat, laid ambush for the gunboat and opened fire
on the policemen.
They were said to have killed the policemen, who were taken unawares. They subsequently took away the gunboat and their arms.
The incident was also said to have
delayed the movement of prominent personalities travelling to Okpoama,
Brass Local Government Area for the funeral of an uncle to former
Bayelsa Governor Timipre Sylva.
Also, gunmen suspected to be sea pirates
attacked a passenger speed boat near Kiberi-Bio along the
Ogbia-Nembe-Brass waterway in the state and allegedly took away four
passengers – two women and two children.
In addition, the hoodlums allegedly carted away valuable items worth thousands of naira, including the attacked boat.
The bandits were said to have also made
away with the speed boat after forcing the driver and the passengers on
board to disembark and run into the mangrove forest.
In the same month, the State Police
Command confirmed attack on two military patrol boats deployed to rescue
victims of pirates’ attack in Ogbia Brass waterways.
Yet, December will remain evergreen in
the minds of the military as six soldiers were killed by pirates in two
separate incidents.
In the first incident, dare-devil gunmen suspected to be sea pirates attacked and murdered three soldiers attached to the JTF.
The suspected pirates also hijacked a military gunboat after killing their victims.
The pirates were said to have laid
ambush for the soldiers and killed them at Santa Barbara, a notorious
river in Nembe area of the state.
The victims were said to be escorting
some items to Brass terminal, owned by an international oil company,
when the gunmen opened fire on them.
When contacted, the JTF said it did not believe the soldiers were dead, but missing.
Anka confirmed the attack but said it was premature to conclude that the soldiers were killed by the pirates.
However, less than 72 hours after, armed
men again killed another three soldiers at Azagbene, in the Ekeremor
area of the state.
The killing took place two days to
Christmas when the pirates attacked the boat conveying the three
soldiers on routine patrol along the waterways.
It was learnt that after the gunmen had killed the soldiers, they went away with their rifles and 180 rounds of ammunition.
The source said the civilian boat driver was also not spared as he was killed and his boat taken away.
The news of the killing of six soldiers within the space of four days was said to have thrown the JTF into deep mourning.
With the harvests of deaths on Bayelsa
waterways, the Seriake Dickson administration, stakeholders and relevant
authorities are challenged that the state has yet to get right the
security of lives and property of people.
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