Curfew Still In Force In Gokana -RSG …As Community Moves To Resettle Bomu, Lewe IDPs

Rivers State Government says the dusk to dawn curfew imposed in Gokana Local Government Area  in the wake of the communal and cult clashes in the area is still in force.
Special Adviser to the Governor on Conflict Resolution, Chief Okorie Abelekum who stated this while addressing indigenes of Bomu and Lewe communities in the area said that the security agencies will arrest anyone who violates the curfew.
Chief Abelekum who condemned the killings and destruction of property in Bomu and Lewe communities, urged the leadership to call their youth to order with a view to stopping the killings which he described as senseless.
The Special Adviser also said that the government will embark on mass arrest, if they failed to take advantage of the Special Amnesty programme declared for  Ogoniland by Governor Nyesom Wike to handover their weapons.
Chief Abelekum warned those who are in the habit of hiring guns for communal conflicts to desist in their own interest and that of their community.
He warned cultists in New-ol community to handover their guns to the government. Also speaking, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Amnesty, Mr Ken Chindah, told cultists in the area that the state government has given them another opportunity to repent and handover their guns.
Mr Chindah said that anyone who refuses to comply with the programme this time around would be dealt with according to the law.
Earlier, the caretaker committee chairman of Gokana Local Government Area, Hon Louis Alawa had said that the crisis in Bomu and Lewe was caused by illegal oil bunkering.
Meanwhile, the Chairman, Caretaker Committee of Gokana Local Government Area, Rivers State, Louis Alawa, has assured the displaced people of Bomu and Lewe of the determination and commitment of the administration  to settle the land dispute, which has caused serious communal conflicts, resulting in deaths.
Alawa gave the assurance last Monday during a visit to both communities to ascertain the level of destruction and damage to properties, while commiserating with those who lost loved ones, just as he appealed to the displaced persons to return home, as peace had been restored to the communities.
Responding to the assurances from the caretaker chairman, the affected people pleaded for government intervention by resolving the disagreement quickly, and helping in the rebuilding of their destroyed homes, resettlement and reintegration.
They told the caretaker committee chairman that they have no homes to return to, as their houses were razed during the communal conflict.
The Tide recalls that thousands of people, especially children and women from Lewe and Bomu communities in Gokana Local Government have been sacked from their communities following a communal war that broke out between the two communities in December, 2016.
The displaced persons have since then been taking refuge in churches and other public places in neighbouring communities.
Meanwhile, the Rivers State Government has confirmed that six people died in a communal clash last December between the people of Lewe and Bomu communities in Gokana.
The Special Adviser to the Rivers State Governor on Conflict Resolution, Okorie Abelekun, gave the figure during a visit to both communities as a result of the clash.
Abelekun regretted the level of carnage and destruction recorded during the crisis, and warned that government would no longer tolerate communal crisis in the state.
Also speaking, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Amnesty, Kenneth Chinda, enjoined youth who were yet to embrace the State Government Amnesty Programme to take advantage of the second opportunity given by the Governor Nyesom Wike-led administration this week to submit their arms and embrace peace.
The Tide reports that the team accompanied by men of the 6 Division, Nigerian Army, Port Harcourt, also addressed some former cultists who voluntarily renounced cultism through a Catholic Priest, Reverend Father Abel Akpulu.

John Bibor & Susan Serekara-Nwikhana