Metro
13 travelers ‘vanish’ as pirates hijack boat in Rivers
Suspected pirates hijacked a passenger boat carrying 20 travellers along the Bonny-Okrika waterways in Rivers State on Thursday.
This came as the Bonny Local Government Council said it had rescued nine of the passengers, while a frantic search is on to rescue the others.
The Bonny LG Chairman, Anengi Claude-Wilcox, said the rescue was in collaboration with security agencies.
Claude-Wilcox, in a statement by his media aide, Boma Waribor, on Friday, said the driver of the passenger boat went contrary to the rules to pass through kilometre 10, which is a prohibited channel for commercial boat drivers.
The statement reads, “Security briefing at the disposal of the Executive Chairman of Bonny Local Government Area, Anengi Barasua Claude-Wilcox, indicates that a passenger boat comprising 20 persons enroute Bonny was intercepted this afternoon by Sea Pirates around the precincts of Isaka in Okrika Local Government Area.
“However, it should be noted that nine persons have been found and returned to Port Harcourt through the timely intervention of Government Security operatives who are currently up and about and have intensified efforts to rescue the remaining 12 passengers.
“It should be noted that preliminary findings reveal that the Boat Driver disobeyed the rules and passed through Kilometer 10, a prohibited channel for commercial Boat Drivers.
“The relatives of the victims and the public are urged to be calm as the Bonny Local Government Council is seriously collaborating with neighbouring LGAs and the security agencies to arrest the situation.
Meanwhile, the Maritime Union Workers of Nigeria, Rivers State chapter, has expressed worry over the continued pirate attacks in the State.
The Chairman of the MUWN, Rivers Commercial District, Isreal Wariboko, while reacting decried the incessant attacks despite the efforts of the state government to stop the trends.
He noted that the pirates came out with different strategies in each operation, nothing that the miscreants reside in the mangrove.
According to him, “Of course you know these boys. When they know that there is security in this area, they go to another area to operate. They are criminals.
“The truth of the matter is that they are in that they are somehow in the mangrove, and they monitor the activities of security agencies and the movement of every individual. So they come out when they see that the place is a little bit free.”
“Sometimes security can be at the front, and they operate behind. Sometimes when they know that they are there, they go ahead of the security. That is the way they operate. As long as they are in the mangrove, we will continue to see this type of attack once in a while,” Wariboko said.
He, therefore, called for more security presence along the waterways to curb the incessant attacks, even as he said the latest attacks have been reported to the police.
He further said, “You will recall that after our protest and the donation of gunboats by the Governor, we have not complained about pirate attacks along our sea routes.
“Just recently they have devices another means. I will go out there and find out what really happened to know whether the boat followed the real route or diverted to another route.
“The marine police are aware of the matter, and I know that they are handling it. As a union, too, we have sent a search party twice today.”
A high-speed auto crash involving a commercial bus has claimed multiple lives along the Abuja-Makurdi Highway.
The commercial bus belongs to Flight Transport Company.
The accident occurred on Thursday, leaving several dead and many others injured.
DAILY POST sighted a video of the incident showing the lifeless bodies of some passengers sprawled across the road as bystanders wailed in distress.
Many of the victims, including men and women, lay motionless on the road.
A witness in the video could be heard lamenting about the reckless speed of the bus driver before the tragic accident occurred.
“When this driver overtook us, I was complaining about his speed. This Flight Bus, I was complaining. Just look at it. I was complaining about the speed of this very driver,” the narrator in the video said.
The crash has sparked fresh outrage among road users and concerned citizens, with many taking to social media to condemn the continuous recklessness of some bus drivers.
Nine days after he was kidnapped, the Catholic Priest of St. Peter’s Catholic Church, Ivukwa, in the Etsako East Local Government Area of Edo State, Rev. Fr. Peter Ekweli, has been released by his abductors.
But the fate of the seminarian who was abducted with him, Peter Andrew, remained unknown.
A viral video on Thursday showed a kidnap victim, surrounded by uniformed men believed to be vigilantes, claiming that he was kidnapped and put in the same location with the priest and seminarian.
The victim said they were all forced to close their eyes, and in the process, they heard a gunshot.
Then, they were told to open their eyes, and they saw the seminarian battling for his life before he died.
He said they trekked to a place in Edo Central from where he escaped.
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Moses Yamu, claimed that the priest had been rescued by the police and that the police would soon come up with an official statement.
According to a source, the Catholic Church will also issue a statement on Friday about the priest’s release.
The Troops of Sub-Sector 4, Operation FANSAN YAMMA, ambushed bandits and neutralised three of them off the Kaduna-Abuja highway.
Acting Deputy Director Army Public Relations, 1 Division, Nigerian Army, Lt-Col. Musa Yahaya, confirmed the development in a statement issued on Wednesday in Kaduna.
Yahaya said, “In a well-coordinated operation on Tuesday, troops of Sub-Sector 4, Operation FANSAN YAMMA successfully neutralised three Violent Extremists and Insurgents (VEIs) in an ambush at an area near Ngwagi Hill, Gwagwada Community, off the Kaduna – Abuja highway in Chikun LGA of Kaduna State.”
The spokesman said that the success of the operation was based on acting on credible intelligence that the VEI was sighted near Ngwagi Hill.
He said that troops were immediately deployed on long-range fighting patrol to the likely road-crossing point of the insurgents.
According to him, the troops got to the location at about 5.30 p.m. on the same date. They successfully launched the ambush, which effectively neutralised three armed members of the criminal group.
“During the operation, troops also recovered a cache of arms and ammunition, including two AK-47 rifles, eight AK-47 rifle magazines, 374 rounds of 7.62mm x 39 special ammunition and 88 rounds of 7.62mm x 54 NATO ammunition.
Other items recovered were one Infinix mobile phone, medical supplies, clothing, and dry rations, ” Yahaya said.
He said the operation’s success was a testament to the troops’ high fighting morale and combat efficiency.
“This achievement is also due to the effective collaboration between the military and intelligence agencies, which provided credible intelligence that informed the operation.
He said the General Officer Commanding 1 Division, Nigerian Army, and Commander Sector 1 Joint Task Force Operation FANSAN YAMMA, Maj.-Gen. Mayirenso Saraso, commended the troops for their resilience and successful conduct of the operation.
He charged the troops not to relent on their oars until all criminal elements operating in the Division and the Sector’s area of operational responsibility were neutralised.
NAN
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