Lorine Emenike
The people of Bonny local government area in Rivers State have called on both the government and well-meaning Nigerians to come to their aid, as hundreds of their sons, daughters, husbands including their elderlies are been killed, kidnapped and attacked by sea pirates and unknown gunmen on both the Port Harcourt Bonny waterways and in their villages.
The executive of the Bonny youth federation, and director, Bonny Culture and Traditional Matters, Comrade Gladden Dan-Jumbo in an interview with our correspondent stated that the gruesome killing of the people of Bonny and kidnapping has gone beyond what they should be quiet over.
According to him: “Actually, for more than sixteen years, we have been having these issue of sea piracy on our waterways. All of a sudden, like three to four years, it is no longer the Port Harcourt-Bonny waterways, the other routes that lead to other Bonny villages, they also come in. Bonny town is basically an island, so my village is DanJumbo.
“DanJumbo village with a boat to Bonny is like 10 minutes drive, then from Bonny to Port Harcourt on a boat is 15 minutes drive. But all of a sudden, for the last four/five years the sea pirate and kidnapping has moved from the sea route that connects us to Port Harcourt to our smaller villages.
“So in the cause of these attacks, they (the sea pirates) will go to our villages, they will kill elderly people, rape them and so on. These happen in the villages not even on the route. So they start using these routes to come in to attack Bonny villages and kidnap. Usually, when there is a big event in Bonny, they come to kidnap Bonny prominent sons, for four months and counting going to five months, people were kidnapped in Guaringo. You heard about Guaringo fight, people were kidnapped in Guaringo, they went for a burial, people were taken and kidnapped on the burial scene, gunmen came from the routes and kidnapped them. This is what we have been experiencing.
“Also on the 6th of January 2021 this year, some guys were coming back from the village from the Xmas festivity, so they were returning from Deimade village when they were attacked by sea pirates again. They were eleven in number in the boat, but the sea pirates were able to overpower them and sink their boat. When they sank their boat, they started using machete on them, two of our youths were brutally killed, the engine of the boat was stolen. On the same day, they also stole the engine of one other boat, that’s two boats on the same day. They killed two of our young sons, one of them Donald Fubara Banigo, he just finished school waiting to go to youth service this year January or February, and Biene Alison (he has a son), their offence is just because they are from Bonny.
“Basically, Bonny people are very peaceful people and we are not at war with anybody. Historically, we don’t fight wars, so we don’t know why these people are attacking us. I think the reason is that Bonny is housing the multinationals, there is Liquified Natural Gas, there is SPDC, there is Mobil and others, this is why others communities are envious of us and they are attacking us and these multinationals are owned by the government and other bodies, but we are not properly secured. It is like a crime that we are from Bonny.
“In Bonny here we have staged a protest, we also protested in Port Harcourt, we went to government house, the Rivers State House of Assembly, we went to Nigeria Union of Journalist secretariat, we went there to register issues. We are really not safe, me that is talking to you I have a meeting in Port Harcourt by Friday, I was notified this morning that I have a meeting. My heart has been racing very fast since I received the message to come to Port Harcourt for a meeting, how will I pass safely to Port Harcourt, that’s how terrified it is”.
