3 stabbed to death over stolen drums in Bayelsa

There was commotion on Friday in Gbarain community of Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State after a man allegedly ordered the killing of two persons to avenge the murder of his son, Ebibofa.

Sunday Tribune’s investigation revealed that Ibibi, who was enraged over the killing of his son for failing to hand over proceeds from the sale of stolen drums, allegedly hired some unidentified youths to kill two young men identified as Delta and Solomon Emmanuel who were said to have stabbed Ebibofa to death.

A source informed Sunday Tribune that prior to the incident, the three deceased persons were close friends, but trouble ensued when three of them allegedly conspired to steal empty drums, which were subsequently handed over to Ebibofa to sell and bring the proceeds for sharing.

“However, after Ebibofa had sold the drums, he allegedly refused to share the proceeds with his friends, a development, which angered Delta and Emmanuel, hence plot to kill Ebibofa,” the source claimed.

Oblivious of the fact that death was lurking around, Sunday Tribune gathered that Ebibofa was lured by his two aggrieved friends to a nearby bush where he was tied to a tree and stabbed to death.

When he got wind of the news of his son’s death, Ibibi allegedly assembled some youths to search for Delta and Emmanuel.

“Ibibi recruited some youths who went in search of the accused persons. They found them and brought them to him but he ordered the mob to stab them to death. One of the boys died on the spot, but the other one later gave up the ghost,” the source said.

Residents of Gbarain community invited the police to arrest Ibibi, who after interrogation at Ammasoma police station, confessed that he ordered the execution of the two boys to avenge the killing of his son.

The Bayelsa State Police Public Relations Officer [PPRO], Mr. Eguavoen Emokpae, confirmed the incident, saying that investigation was on-going over the killings.

“The man has been arrested and he is making useful statements. The matter is under investigations,” he said.

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Sacked officials escape with 200 government vehicles

The new governor of Bayelsa State in South-South Nigeria, Seriake Dickson, has raised the alarm over the disappearance of over 200 government vehicles believed to have been taken away by sacked aides of former governor Timipre Sylva.

Mr Dickson who decried the looting of government property including kitchen utensils and window blinds announced in Yenogoa, the state capital, stated his administration’s resolve to recover every item stolen by political aides of his predecessor.

To this end the new governor has set up a Vehicle Recovery Committee charged with the responsibility of recovering all government vehicles and property in the custody of former political office holders in the oil-rich state.

According to Mr Dickson’s spokesman Daniel Iworisuo-Markson, over 126 political appointees in governor Sylva’s administration have failed to return the vehicles in their possession since January 27, 2012 when they lost their jobs, following the sacking of Mr Sylva as governor by a Supreme Court judgement.

Following Mr Sylva’s exit, an acting governor had been sworn in pending the conduct of a fresh election that brought Mr Dickson into office.

But barely a week in office, the new governor had cried out that he inherited an empty treasury and a huge debt profile which he said had mortgaged future developments in the state.

The empty treasury had been discovered following an audit panel that scrutinised the expenditure of Mr Sylva’s administration.

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Gunmen kill four policemen in Jonathan’s state

Gunmen on Thursday opened fire and killed four marine policemen on patrol on waterways in President Goodluck Jonathan’s Bayelsa home state, state police spokesman said.

“We lost four of our officers today in an attack launched by unknown gunmen. The policemen were on patrol on the waterways when they were shot and killed,” Emokpae Eguavoen said.

The policemen were killed at the marine police checkpoint on Nembe river in the southern state, he said.

No arrests were made, he said.

In another development, three members of the Joint Task Force (JTF), a military outfit deployed in the region to tackle crime, including oil theft and piracy, were also attacked by unknown gunmen in an ambush, an army spokesman said.

Colonel Timothy Antigha, spokesman for the JTF, who confirmed the attack, denied knowledge that the three military men were killed.

There had been unconfimed reports that the three — two soldiers and a naval rating — were killed in the attack.

“I am not aware that the three were killed. I know the attack took place when the team was going from Brass to Ogbia (in Bayelsa state). They were apparently ambushed. We are still gathering information on the incident”, he said.

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President Jonathan lied

The former governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Timipre Sylva, Saturday, said he (Sylva) performed far more than Jonathan’s tenure given the challenges he faced in office as the governor of the Niger Delta state.

Reacting to President Goodluck Jonathan’s comment at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) campaign rally Saturday in Yenagoa in which he (Jonathan) cited the stoning of the former governor and the Five Star Tower Hotel project as monument of disgrace, Chief Sylva said it was the same President Jonathan that came back and spoke glowingly of his achievement at the January primaries of the party.

Chief Sylva in a statement issued by his media aide, Doifie Ola, described as barefaced lie and a misrepresentation of open facts the President claim that the Five Star Hotel had been the way he (Jonathan) left it.

He challenged the President “to tell the world how much he (Jonathan) paid the contractor and how much Sylva has paid the contractor.”

The statement reads, “Timipre Sylva has read with utter dismay some statements credited to the President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) campaign rally on Friday, 03 February in Yenagoa.

“Two things stand out in the President’s speech. He talked about a stoning incident in Yenagoa that he watched with pleasure and the Tower Hotel project in Yenagoa that was conceptualised by the Government of Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, which Jonathan took over as Governor of Bayelsa State and passed on to Sylva as Governor.

“The stoning in Yenagoa happened during the president’s visit and it was widely believed to have been arranged by a few misguided elements, which with the backing of Mr. President, had used the presidential security to subvert the security of the state on purpose to embarrass Governor Sylva. Sponsors of the incident had tried to deny their involvement and present the event as indicative of the governor’s non-performance.

The world now knows better, of course. Everyone is now perfectly well aware of the mastermind of that insult on the Ijaw nation.

“But let us state that it was not the governor who was disgraced by the stoning. Instead, it was the president himself. Now, if stoning is a yardstick for non-performance, are we also right to say that the burning down of Mr. President’s house in 2007, in the run-up to that year’s general elections, was also an act of rejection by the people of the state? A lot of people believed that the burning of his house and the action of militants in 2007 were an expression of rejection. Is Mr. President now confirming that wide belief?

“In addition, can we also say that the stoning of President Jonathan in May last year in Uganda was a global act of rejection? Besides, it was after the stoning incident in Yenagoa in late 2010 that Mr. President came back to Yenagoa, raised the hand of Sylva, and spoke glowingly about his achievements, saying he has performed excellently well and that the people of Bayelsa should vote him into office.

“It was after the stoning that he came back and voted in the January 2011 PDP governorship primaries and gave a glowing report of Sylva’s performance. So what suddenly changed from January 2011 to later that year when President Jonathan manipulated all the institutions of state, including the armed and security forces, the judiciary and critical organs of democracy like the political parties, in full cry, leaving the security and economic challenges which he faced, to embark on OPERATION REMOVE SYLVA as the sole mandate which the people of Nigeria gave to him?“Didn’t Jonathan know there was a stoning incident when he came to say Governor Sylva should be voted in January?”

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Gunmen attack ex-militant country home in Bayelsa

The riverine settlement of Olugbobiri in the Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, was yesterday, invaded by unknown gunmen, who attacked the country home of ex-militant leader, Mr. Africa Ukpariasa.

A section of Ukpariasa country home, it was learnt, was being used as a base by BAJERO, an outfit owned by ex-militant which was recently awarded surveillance job by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, to secure pipelines in the mangrove swamp of central Niger Delta. Policemen were at the premises when the gunmen struck, which led to a fierce gunfight.

Four policemen and a gateman sustained serious injuries in the attack and are currently hospitalized.

Three of the injured policemen, said to be in critical condition have been transferred to Port Harcourt, while the fourth policeman and the gateman are on admission at an undisclosed hospital in Yenagoa.

The attack on the home of the ex-militant, which came few hours after the twin bomb blasts that rocked Bayelsa State capital on Friday, was launched at about 1.am according to a source in the riverine community.

Though the motive for the invasion could not be immediately ascertained but informed sources told Vanguard that the gunmen may have attacked the home of the ex-militant leader believing it was stashed with money.

Dynamites were said to have been used to rip apart the bullet proof doors by the invaders, who ransacked the entire building.

Sources within the community told NEWSMEN that the armed gunmen stormed the community in three double engine speed boats at about 1am, when the entire community had retired to bed.

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2 explosions hit Jonathan’s home state

Two explosions have rocked the home state of President Goodluck Jonathan,Yenagoa , but no casualties were reported, the governor’s office and the military said Saturday.

The explosions came after the city of Kano was hit by coordinated bomb attacks and gunfire that left at least many people dead, but the governor indicated the Yenagoa blasts were linked to upcoming governorship elections.

“Governor Timipre Sylva has just been informed of two explosions that rocked parts of Yenagoa, the Bayelsa state capital, late Friday night,” a statement from his office said.

A spokesman for a military task force in the region said there had been no casualties.

“The (joint task force) confirms that there were dynamite explosions in certain parts of Yenagoa city yesterday. However, there was no casualty,” Lieutenant Colonel Timothy Antigha said.

Bayelsa state — the home state of the president, located in the oil-producing Niger Delta region — is preparing for a contentious February 11 governorship election.

Campaign periods have often provoked such incidents in the delta.

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Ben Murray Bruce screened out of Bayelsa Governorship race

Silverbird chairman, Ben Murray Bruce, was yesterday screened out of the Bayelsa governorship race by the Gubernatorial Screening Appeal Committee of the PDP in Bayelsa State, for possessing dual citizenship.

The committee only cleared three candidates; Youpele Kalango, Christopher Enai and Henry Seriake Dickson as eligible candidates to contest in the upcoming Guber election.

The panel also excluded the name of current governor of the state, Timipre Sylva, for allegedly operating foreign accounts.

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Police kill another person in Bayelsa

Incessant accusations of alleged extra-judicial killings trailing the Nigeria Police continued, on Sunday, in Bayelsa, as another unidentified person was allegedly shot to death around 1.30p.m along the popular Gen Sanni Abacha expressway, in Yenagoa, the state capital.

Eyewitness informed Newsmenthat the person believed to be coming from the church was said to have allegedly engaged some security operatives, who mounted check point close to the Monkey Brigde, which lead to the entrance of Christ Embassy. 

 When Newsmen correspondent passed through the expressway around 12.30p.m, on Sunday, policemen were seen conducting random check on some vehicles and commercial motorcyclists plying the area. 

The eyewitness hinted that the person was shot at a very close range and when the reality of the killing dawned on the trigger happy policemen, 3 patrol vans marked Ops Department of the Bayelsa State Police command came few minutes after to evacuate the mutilated body of the deceased. 

Spilled blood of the victim was still sighted on the spot where the killing was allegedly perpetrated, when newsmen visited the scene of the incident. Reacting to the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Eguaveon Emopkae, confirmed the incident, saying that it occurred under the Asikoro Division, but said he was still garnering more information on the circumstances surrounding the act. 

 He said: “I have been trying to gather information over this matter. I went to A Division of the state police command, nobody was ready to talk but later discovered that the incident occurred within the jurisdiction of the Asikoro Division,” he said.

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Two feared dead as landslide hit Bayelsa community

In Yenogua, two persons among them a graduate of Bayelsa State owned Niger Delta University were Thursday feared dead in a landslide which reportedly hit riverine Peremabiri community in the Southern Ijaw local government area of the state.

The missing youths, identified as Mr. Ikioudo Abel, a graduate of the Niger Delta University and a secondary school leaver, Stanley Dominic, were reported to have been submerged by the landslide during a game of football close to the community waterside.

Though the immediate cause of the landslide could not be ascertained but some indigenes of the community said it might not be unconnected with the incessant dredging work in the area. Sources said the search for the missing youths is still on.

It was gathered that the boys during a game of football were trying to retrieve a stray ball at close to the river shore when the incident occurred.

Contacted on the development, the spokesman for the Community Development Committee, Comrade Morris Johnson and an ex-militant leader from the community, Comrade Eris Paul confirmed the development and accused the two dredging companies, operating in the area of provoking the landslide.

Morris Johnson said though the community consented to the dredging projects being carried out by the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), the SPDC has not done any reclamation work and the dredging work has exposed the community to disasters in the last few months.

The former member of the Upper Senate of the Movement For the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND),Comrade Eris Paul, popularly known as Commander Ogunboss expressed concern over the rising cases of natural disaster in the area and appealed to the state government, the President and the National Assembly to come to the aide of the community.

Ogunboss noted that the people of the community are gripped by fear of extinction due to the recurring disasters.

According to him, the future of the community cannot be guaranteed adding that the persistent dredging works in the area has polluted it waters.

When contacted, the spokesman of the State Police Command, Mr. Emokpae Eguavoen, said though the incident has not been officially reported to the command, they will contact the Oporoma division for details and investigation.

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