The people of Rumuolumeni Community in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State have called on the state government to come to their aid in what they alleged as illegal arrests and detention of some of their leaders by the authorities of the Nigerian Navy, NNS Pathfinder.
The arrests and detention followed protests by the youths and residents of Rumuolumeni at NNS Pathfinder, which is host to Ocean Marine Solutions Limited, an oil servicing firm over alleged refusal of the company to employ people from the area.
Following this allegation, youths barricaded all entrances and exits to and from the community as early as 5am, yesterday, resulting in what could be described as airtight gridlock in the community.
When The Tide visited the scene, personnel of the Army and Navy had cordoned off the Town Hall of the community where they were said to be dialoguing with the youths of the community.
A youth leader in the community, Felix Chinda, who spoke to The Tide, said the action of the youths was in reaction to the unlawful detention of some of their leaders who had gone into the Naval Command to have peaceful dialogue over the refusal of Ocean Marine Solutions (OMS), to employ youths for over seven years of its operations in the community.
According to Chinda, “the issue is that the Navy, NNS Pathfinder, is a government agency in Rumuolumeni, which is host to them. They (Navy) hosted a company called OMS for over seven years without the consent of the community, without any MoU with the community, without any employment of the youths of the community. Meanwhile, all efforts made to dialogue with the company or the Navy had been abortive”.
He explained further that past and present executives of the Rumuolumeni Employment Bureau (REB), and the Community Development Committee (CDC) of the community had made several efforts, including writing to the company and the Navy to enhance dialogue over the issue, to no avail.
“They (REB and CDC) have written several letters over the years to the Commanding Officer (CO) of NNS Pathfinder and the company, but there had been no response from either the Navy or the company till today.
“Yesterday, the community, out of annoyance, seized two of the coastal buses that convey workers of the company to and from work daily in order to get the attention of the company and the Navy. All the staff in the bus were allowed to go. It was the only option we had left to get necessary attention in order to resolve the issue peacefully”, he said.
He added that the Naval personnel later came, well equipped, and took the buses, after which “they invited the CDC chairman, REB chairman, and their members to a meeting inside the command. They told us they wanted to resolve the matter with the company.
“As our people got to the venue, they arrested them and have detained them until now. That is why we demand for their release. We also demand that the company comes to terms with us and sign an MoU”, he said.
According to Chinda, those in detention include, the CDC Chairman, Barrister Ikechi Williams; the REB Chairman, Comrade Noble Nnamdi Orlu; and Youth President, Bobo Chimo; and other leaders such as Barrister George Ariba; and Uchechukwu Onukwuru.
Chinda used the opportunity to call on the Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, to intervene in the matter before it degenerates further.
Also speaking, the Vice Chairman of the Community Employment Bureau (REB), Emmanuel Ikenga, said the development was a show of disrespect for the host community.
Ikenga said, “Our CDC and REB chairmen have been held hostage by the NNS Pathfinder. When the youths heard of it, we came out this morning to block the road until they release our people.
“The protest will continue until they release our people. Our demand is that the company should come out clear and give us employment”, he insisted.
The Secretary of CDC in Rumuolumeni, Henry Amaewhule, threatened that the youths would remain on the road until their leaders were released, while insisting that the marine company come to a roundtable with the community.
He said: “The reason for the protest is that we are demanding the unconditional release of our CDC leaders and others.
“We are demanding employment in Ocean Marine Solutions; they have been there for over 20 years now, and being harboured by the Navy in collaboration with the Commanding Officer.
“Why will they arrest our representatives as if we do not have youths? Why will they come to our community to oppress us?
“We have been in good terms with the Nigerian Navy. We are a peaceful community, hosting a lot of multinational companies, and they have not complained before. We have never been in this mood before, and we want the release of the arrested persons.”
Several of the youths, who blocked the roads for hours, were seen carrying various placards with inscriptions, “Ocean Marine Solutions employ our youths”, “We are a peace-loving community”, “NNS Pathfinder stop intimidating us”, “After the release of our leaders, we want a roundtable discussion for our youths to be employed by OMS”, and “Enough is Enough”.
The protests resulted in traffic gridlock in the area as a result of blockage of the roads at St. John’s Junction and Aker Base Road Junction of Rumuolumeni, Port Harcourt.
At time of this report, a joint task force made up of the Nigerian Army, Police and the Nigerian Navy have been deployed to the area to ensure that there was no security breach.
Meanwhile, negotiations to end the protest and resolve the dispute has started with representatives of the Rumuolumeni chiefs, elders, the Navy and other stakeholders at the Palace of Paramount Ruler, Eze Ndubueze Wobo.
The Tide gathered that a representative of the community in the meeting, Collins Wagbara, called for the release of the five members of the community detained by officers of NNS Pathfinder.
Efforts made to get to the commanding officer to comment n the matter proved abortive as at press time.
However, a senior Naval officer, who said he has not been authorised to comment on the development, revealed to The Tide that the Navy has commenced moves to resolve the disagreement.
The source added an official statement would be released to the press in due time.

By: Sogbeba Dokubo