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Police Protection For Ex-Militants Leader Sparks Violence In Bayelsa
Violence erupted in the Peremabiri Community, Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State in the early hours of Saturday as youths from the area engaged a gunboat in an attack allegedly launched by ex-militant leader.
The real casualty figures is sketchy as at the time of reporting but there is an indication that two persons are missing.
The crisis is believed to be a supremacy battle between the ex-militant and the leadership of the Peremabiri Community Development Committee.
Unconfirmed reports said some heavyweights in the Bayelsa Police command and the ex-militant leader had deceived the State Police Commissioner Mr. Hillary Okpara, to release three Police gunboats and escorts for the operation.
It would be recalled that the command recently lost 11 policemen to such deployment which included 50 policemen to provide cover to an ex-militant recently.
A source in the community explained that the police gunboats approached the coastal community at about midnight and commenced shooting to scare residents.
However, rather than scare the residents who were woken up by the sound of the gunfire, the youths of the community quickly mobilized and resisted the three gunboats which fired at the community from the creeks for about an hour.
But the Bayelsa Police Command has denied the involvement of its patrol gunboats in Saturday’s shoot-out at Peremabiri community in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa.
Sources in the community had alleged that an ex-militant leader, Mr Monday Eris Paul: aka Ogun Boss” had led three police gunboats in Saturday’s attack that lasted for over an hour.
The attack was reportedly resisted by community youths until the intervention of a Naval Unit stationed at an oil installation within the community brought the situation under control.
The Naval team, the police gunboats and security officials have since returned to Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital, together.
Reacting to the incident, Bayelsa Police Commissioner Mr. Hilary Opara said in an interview last Saturday that the police was in the community to maintain peace.
“It is untrue that police attacked the community. How can we be attacking the people we are paid to protect? We were notified that there was a fight in the community, and we deployed men to the area.
“The people may have misunderstood our mission when the team arrived there, we saw them at the water front, and we asked our men to come back to avoid confrontation.
“We went there to maintain the peace and not to fight anyone. I have asked my DPO in the area to bring all the factions to my office on Monday so that we can further explore the opportunity of brokering peace ,” Opara said.
However, a community leader in Peremabiri, who wished to remain anonymous, said that the three gunboats fired shots continuously for almost an hour while approaching the coastline.
He said that youths of the community had prevented the police team from disembarking from the gunboats until a Naval unit attached to a nearby flow station arrived the scene.
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I’m Committed To Community Dev – Ajinwo
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RSG Tasks Rural Dwellers On RAAMP …As Sensitization Team Visits Akulga, Degema, Three Others

Rivers State Head of Service, Dr (Mrs) Inyingi Brown, has called on rural communities in the State to embrace the Rural Access and Agricultural marketing project (RAAMP) with a view to improving their living conditions.
This follows the ongoing sensitization campaign by the State Project Implementation Unit (SPIU) visits to Degema, Abonnema, Afam headquarters of Degema, Akuku Toru and Oyigbo Etche and Omuma local government areas respectively.
Dr Brown who was represented by the Deputy Director, Special Duties in her office, Mrs Dein Akpanah, said RAAMP was initiated by the Federal Government and World Bank to economically empower rural dwellers.s
She said the World Bank understands the plights of rural farmers and traders in the State, and therefore came up with the programme to address them.
According to her, RAAMP will improve the conditions of farmers, traders and fishermen, and therefore, behoves on every rural communities in the State to embrace the programme.
The Head of Service also said the programme would support the youths to be gainfully employed while bridges and roads will be built to link farms and fishing settlements.
Also speaking, the State project coordinator, Mr Joshua Kpakol, said the programme has the potential of creating millionaires among farmers and fishermen in the State.
Kpakol who was represented by Engr. Sam Tombari, said RAAMP would help farmers and fishermen to preserve their produce.
According to him, the project will build cold rooms and Silos for preservation of crops and fishes while access roads will also be created to link farmers and fishermen to the market.
He, however, warned them against any act that will lead to the suspension of the projects by the World Bank.
Kpakol particularly warned against acts such as kidnapping, marching ground, gender based violence and child labour, adding that such acts if they occur may lead to the cancellation of the project by the World Bank.
During the visit to Oyigbo local government area, Mr Joshua Kpakol, said the team was there to let them know how they will benefit from the Raamp.
The coordinator who was personally at Oyigbo said the World Bank introduced the project to check food insecurity in the State.
He said already 19 states in Nigeria are already benefitting from the project and called on them to embrace the project.
Meanwhile, stakeholders in the three local government areas have commended the World Bank for including their areas in the project.
They, however, complained over the incessant attacks by pirates on their waterways.
At Degema, King Agolia of Ke kingdom said land was a major problem in the kingdom.
King Agolia represented by High Chief Alpheus Damiebi said many indigenes of the kingdom are willing to go into farming but are handicapped by lack of land.
Also at Degema, the representative of the Omu Onyam Ekeim of Usokun Degema kingdom, Osoabo Isaac, said Degema has embraced the programme but needed more information on the implementation of the programme.
Similarly, while High Chief Precious Abadi advised that the project should not be narrowed to only crop farming, a community women leader, Mrs Orikinge Eremabo Otto, called for the construction of cold rooms in all fishing settlements in the area.
At Abonnema, Mr Diamond Kio linked the problem of the area to incessant piracy along waterways.
He also expressed fears over the possibility of the project being hijacked by politicians.
Also at Abonnema, a stakeholder, Ikiriko Kelvin, called on the World Bank to design an agricultural project that will suit the riverine environment, while at Oyigbo, HRH Eze Boniface Akawo expressed satisfaction with the project.
John Bibor
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Senate Replaces Natasha As Committee Chairman

The political mudslinging between the Senate leadership and Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan continued yesterday as the Senate named Senator Aniekan Bassey as the new Chairman of the Committee on Diaspora and Non-Governmental Organisations.
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, announced the appointment during yesterday’s plenary, confirming Bassey’s replacement of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who is currently on suspension.
Akpoti-Uduaghan was reassigned to the Diaspora and NGOs Committee in February after she was removed as Chair of the Senate Committee on Local Content during a minor reshuffle.
Bassey is the senator representing Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District.
Although no reason was given for her removal yesterday, the change is believed to be connected to her unresolved suspension.
In May, Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court ordered her reinstatement and directed her to tender an apology to the Senate.
However, the Senate has insisted it has not received a certified true copy of the court judgment.
Akpoti-Uduaghan who represents Kogi Central, has yet to resume her legislative duties despite a recent court ruling that voided her suspension.
In a televised interview on Tuesday, Akpoti-Uduaghan said she was awaiting the Certified True Copy of the judgment before officially returning to plenary, citing legal advice and respect for institutional process.
Although the Federal High Court described her suspension as “excessive and unconstitutional”, a legal opinion dated July 5 and attributed to the Senate’s counsel, Paul Daudu (SAN), argued that the ruling lacked any binding directive to enforce her reinstatement.
Akpoti-Uduaghan, one of only three female senators in the current assembly, said the continued delay in allowing her return was not only a denial of her mandate but also a blow to democratic representation.
“By keeping me out of the chambers, the Senate is not just silencing Kogi Central, it’s denying Nigerian women and children representation. We are only three female senators now, down from eight,” she said.