Suspected herdsmen who allegedly launched an attack on a fishing settlement at Lake Sam belonging to Akumoni community, Okordia clan in Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, where Chief Bob Wilson Emmanuel and Mr. Victor Anozie were killed, have threatened to carry out more attacks on the community.
Nigerian Tribune learnt that Chief Emmanuel, as of the time of his murder by the suspected herders, was the deputy paramount ruler of Akumoni community.
Speaking to the Nigerian Tribune in Akumoni, the paramount ruler, Chief Kalama Abraham, disclosed that their assailants were threatening to launch more deadly attacks on the fishing settlement.
Chief Abraham noted that their attackers were issuing the threats through phone calls, explaining that during the March 20 onslaught, they (the herders) made away with phones through which they had access to the GSM numbers of indigenes of the community.
“We are not safe as herdsmen seized some phones from the camp and are using these phones to threaten our people in the forest that they are coming back for more attacks.
“So, there is a threat on ground and we do not know when they are coming. We are appealing to the government to nip this on the bud,” Abraham appealed.
However, the state command of the Nigeria Police has assured the people of Okordia clan, particularly those fishing and farming in Lake Sam of adequate protection.
Speaking through the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Asinim Butswat, the police said officers and men of the police had since been drafted to the scene of the crime to ensure safety of lives and properties.
He enjoined the leadership of Okordia to involve local vigilante groups to augment the efforts of the police to curtail possible attacks from the suspected herdsmen and other miscreants.
Meanwhile, the member representing Yenagoa constituency IIl in the state House of Assembly, Hon Ted Elemeforo, has condemned the killing of the deputy paramount ruler of Akumoni-Okordia, Chief Emmanuel and Mr Anozie, by the suspected herdsmen.
Speaking to the Nigerian Tribune in Yenagoa, Elemeforo noted that herders randomly attacked fishermen and farmers around Lake Sam after their cows had destroyed the people’s crops while grazing.
The lawmaker explained that when the farmers came out to protect their crops and lakes from being destroyed, the herdsmen brought out guns and shot at them.
“In the process, the deputy paramount ruler and others were shot dead,” Elemeforo said.
Nigerian Tribune also gathered that the suspected herdsmen and their cattle were at large and nobody had been arrested.
Elemeforo expressed appreciation to the Bayelsa State governor, Senator Douye Diri, who mobilised and came to the aid of the people of the constituency by ensuring that security agencies were on ground to protect their lives and properties.
Also speaking to Nigerian Tribune in Akumoni, younger brother of the deceased, Wilson Emmanuel, expressed shock that no government official had visited the bereaved family to commiserate with them apart from their representative in the state legislature.
, Hon. Elemeforo.
Emmanuel said he expected a high-powered government delegation to visit them in view of the circumstances leading to the demise of his elder brother, especially as the deceased was the deputy paramount ruler of the community.
He used the opportunity to appeal to Governor Diri to come to the aid of his bereaved sister-in-law and the four children left behind by his elder brother.
The lawmaker promised adequate protection of the people of his constituency as their representative in the state House ofAssembly.
He explained that it was a violation of the state’s Anti-Open Grazing Law for herdsmen to move about with their cattle for purposes of grazing.
The lawmaker further noted that it would have been the duty of the Federal Government to implement these laws, adding that the problem of insecurity involved them and they are those who controlling security agencies in the country.
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