Okenyi Kenechi
Security of lives and property in Ebubu Eleme is fast deteriorating on a daily basis with robberies, rape and killings becoming a daily occurrence in the area.
Worse is the fact that old women are getting raped in their farms daily as investigations by this paper revealed. In the midst of the unfortunate occurrence, residents have been left on their own.
Residents who spoke to theportcitynews say they sleep with both eyes open while businesses and other commercial activities have suffered greatly due to the activities of these gang members.
Our investigations into the heightening security challenges in the area showed a lack of will by community members, especially mothers, to cooperate with security agents in order to curb the activities of cult boys who have laid seize on the community.
Military Invasion
The Military from the 29 battalion Port Harcourt invaded the community in April with a mandate to flush out criminals in the area who had made life hard. This was following the decision of the police in March to declare one of the most vicious criminals in the area popularly known as Mba Boy wanted. Mba boy was killed close to Owerri on July 13 during a shootout with soldiers.
However, some of the soldiers who participated in that operation told theportcitynews that they pulled out due to lack of cooperation from the community members in their quest to fish out the criminal elements operating in the community.
Our military sources said relatives placed calls to the boys to alert them whenever they were on the move to make arrests and considering the terrain, they were constantly monitored and information fed to the boys who hid in their camps in the bush.
Though they achieved a little success, the sources said the Army was forced to withdraw personnel from the community out of frustration.
One of the sources said: “The problem in Ebubu is that family members of these criminals took it upon themselves to alert them whenever we were on the move. It was very frustrating because you can’t operate in such an environment without the cooperation of the locals. In this case, whether out of fear or out of loyalty to these criminals, people refused to speak up. It was as if we were up against the whole community and out of frustration, we withdrew”
Another military source told theportcitynews that people who tried to provide information on the activities of the gang members were fished out and shot, and so, it created a kind of primitive loyalty which favoured the boys against the army. “The army had no choice but to pull out”
The Grave Situation
A tour of Ebube Eleme, especially the farm road axis showed that criminal activities in the area have spiralled out of control. This is the opposite of the happiness that initially greeted the killing of Mba Boy whom many believed, his death would end the kidnapping, rape and killings in the community but the opposite has become the case.
Community members live in constant fear and apprehension.
Mba Boy’s lieutenants have taken over the community and fractionalized into splinter groups aided by other vicious groups from Gokana and Onne who come in regularly to aid the kidnapping of influential locals. Young boys are forcefully co-opted into these groups while most mothers see it as a way to escape poverty.
A visit to Farm Road from Port Harcourt, motorcycle operators at the trailer park junction at Onne refused to shuttle us to the area because the criminals rob them off their motorcycles at gunpoints and dispose them of their earnings. Instead, they stopped us at a place called ‘Estate’ from whence we walked a distance of 10 poles to farm road.
The situation in the community appears bleak. Shop owners are harassed daily and robbed while markets are invaded where a daily tax of #500 has been imposed on market women. Those who refuse to pay are beaten and stripped. Houses are robbed with those secured with burglary proofs having holes dug on the building’s walls to gain access.
How family members aid operation
Horrifying is the fact that family members cook and send food to these criminal elements in the bush. These criminals while guarding their kidnapped victims and waiting for ransom to be paid, are fed by their mothers and sisters. The situation is further amplified by a total lack of police presence in the area. These rampaging cultists move around in the open with arms looking for rival gang members to kill or victims to rob.
Community members who agreed to talk said that strangers, especially the Igbo businessmen in the area have all relocated leaving just a handful of Ogonis and the locals. The community members who communicated their helplessness said the situation is fast deteriorating daily with the boys running the community with iron fists.
Police say they are planning a comeback
Police sources who spoke to us at the Eleme police station say the attitude of Ebubu community members made arresting perpetrators of crime in the area impossible as police informants were identified and killed. Those whom they couldn’t get at, they trace their families and harm them to serve as deterrence to others who might think of providing the police with the necessary information to proceed.
Officers said the situation is not beyond control but hinged the ability of the police to flush criminal elements terrorizing the community on the willingness of the community members to provide the force with the necessary information that will aid their operation.
Shattered economic activities
Economic activities in Ebubu is suffering due to constant robbery, forced taxation and rape of female farmers. Old women who go to their farms to uproot cassava are raped on a daily basis forcing them to abandon farm work. Most community members still rely heavily on farming for their survival.
One of the rape victims who is in her 60s who spoke to us said female farmers don’t go to farm anymore because they will be raped by the cultists.
Recounting her ordeal, she said she was attacked by four persons on her farm who pinned her to the farm floor and raped her. She said the matter was reported to the police but the police did not do anything.
She said the situation has forced women to stay at home and avoid the farms while weed overgrows their crops.
Shop owners are not left out in the ugly equation. Shops are raided at night and goods catered away. Cement sellers are the worse hit as they endure constant harassment from these hoodlums. Those who fail to cooperate are severely dealt with.
The local government reacts.
Our attempt to speak to the local government chairman of Eleme, Philip Okparaji, did not produce results. Aides to the council boss said he was unavailable but said the local government council is aware of the current security challenges in the area, especially Ebubu and is putting measures in place to counter them.
