- MEND claims responsibility for abduction
By Segun James
The Bayelsa State Police Command Sunday intensified the search for 12 of its personnel missing after gunmen ambushed a 50-member contingent on their way to Azuzuama in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of the state.
Thirteen of the policemen were allegedly killed at the weekend while they were on their way to provide security at the burial of the mother of a former militant leader, Kile Selky Torughedi, also known as General Young Shall Grow.
The police also denied the claim by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) that it was behind the attack, saying the policemen were attacked by some aggrieved former militants.
MEND, in a statement, had claimed responsibility for the attack, which it said it launched because the federal government dismissed its threat to resume attacks along the creeks of the Niger Delta as empty threats.
The state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Kingsley Omire, told reporters that some aggrieved ex-militants who had earlier embraced the amnesty programme by the federal government took advantage of the faulty speedboat in which the policemen were travelling, resulting in their being stranded on the sea and the subsequent attack.
He said: “Fifty policemen set out on an assignment to Azuzama. On their way, one of the boats conveying them developed an engine fault. A Joint Military Task Force gunboat was moving ahead of them. They were isolated and became soft targets.
“Intelligence reports have shown that those involved in the armed attack were hoodlums within an ex-militant group that were beneficiaries of the amnesty.
“Of the 50 policemen deployed in Azuzuama community, the 12 officers declared missing included two police inspectors, four non-commissioned officers (NCOs) and six constables.”
On the claim that the policemen were on an illegal assignment, Omire said he had authorised the deployment of the policemen to provide security to high profile visitors expected at the burial ceremony of Torughedi’s mother.
According to him, “As I speak to you, some policemen are still in the community. It was the disabled nature of the speedboat conveying the affected policemen that made them soft targets. We had lots of gunboats and security personnel in the area.
“As I speak with you now, the entire Azuzuama community is cordoned off.”
But MEND in a statement by its spokesman Ghomo Jomo stated: “For dismissing Hurricane Exodus as an ‘empty threat’ by the Nigerian security forces, heavily armed fighters from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, at about 17.00 hours, Saturday, April 6, 2013, intercepted and engaged government security forces in a fierce gunfight lasting over forty (40) minutes at Azuzama, Southern Ijaw, Bayelsa State, Nigeria.
“The clash which happened in the river left over fifteen (15) security forces dead as we also lost two (2) of our fighters in the battle.
“We hope this encounter will serve as a lesson to the Joint Task Force (JTF) from making careless utterances that cannot be backed as we remain resolute in our resumption of hostilities.
“All oil companies and the public are advised to ignore the false sense of security been peddled by the JTF as well as the false comments from a ‘Comrade Azizi’, who claims to be the spokesman for the group.
“This person is not known to MEND, does not speak for MEND and his utterances and style do not reflect our plans and actions.”
THISDAY was made to understand that the police force headquarters has asked Omire to explain immediately the circumstances that led to the killers making away with the bodies of the policemen without a trace, a situation which undermined the alleged gains of the amnesty in the region.
In this regard, the embattled state police commissioner yesterday denied the claim of wrongful deployment of the men in Azuzuama community in Southern Ijaw Area of the state to provide security at the burial ceremony.
Omire said the killing of the policemen was unfortunate, but admitted that the deployment was authorised by him and done to provide security to high profile visitors expected at the burial ceremony in the community.
Omire, who insisted that the attacked policemen were still considered missing by police authorities, added that they could not be declared dead until the final outcome of the search and rescue operations in the sea and surrounding creeks.
“The police have launched a high powered investigation headed by an Assistant Commissioner of Police, Mr. Tuesday Asayamor,” he said.
Meanwhile, Governor of Bayelsa State, Henry Seriake Dickson, has described the alleged death of 12 policemen serving with the Bayelsa police command as most tragic, shocking and disheartening.
The governor, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Daniel Iworiso-Markson, stated this in a condolence message to the Inspector-General of Police, noting with dismay that the incident occurred when the affected policemen were actively involved in their duty to the nation and humanity.
He said the development was a “constant reminder of how vulnerable we are in our collective efforts at pursuing and achieving lasting peace and unity in our state and country.”
Source: Thisday
No comments:
Post a Comment