Lorine Emenike
Amidst the curfew imposed on the 23 local government area by the Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, armed men are taking advantage to abduct and maim residents of Port Harcourt.
One Chiweikpe Samuel has narrated how he was arrested alongside others and shot three times on his knee at Oroazi in Obio Akpor local government area by gunmen who claimed to be OSPAC members.
The victim who spoke to our correspondent from his hospital bed said he was arrested by the fake OSPAC members in front of the hotel where he was lodging at the early hours of Thursday.
“They said they are Rivers State vigilante but they had no badge on them. Some of them wore masks, they forced me into their car, when I entered their car, I saw more than seven other victims also at the back seat of their vehicle. Some of their captives were under the seat of their bus and these victims were not putting on shirts.
“When I asked what was going on, the fake OPSAC shut me up, and one of them cocked his gun and shot me on my leg, seriously I don’t understand what is going in the state.
Another victim of the incident, Obodo Dimkpa who is a security guard, said he was abducted in front of his office, with his phone, money and identity card taking away.
Hea added that he met about five persons abducted from different locations.
He said the men whom he was told were OSPAC members from Rumuagholu wore masks.
Meanwhile, the Rivers State commandant of the vigilante group of Nigeria, Wilcox Mambo has advised residents in the state to stay indoors within the curfew hours.
Willcox who gave the advice following a report of the attacks on some residents by fake OSPAC members explained that while his men were on patrol, they ran into the hoodlums who presented fake OSPAC identity cards.
“Look at what happened to that boy, had it been that that boy was inside the house, that thing could have not happened to him. So when we called the people at first, the people showed us ID of OSPAC and they were wearing OSPAC uniforms so my people left them.
“Meanwhile, we didn’t know that the people that they had in their vehicle, they held them hostage. We didn’t know but later, we were able to fish one of them out”
