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.