Gunmen suspected to be sea pirates have attacked fishermen on the high sea off the coast of Ibaka in Mbo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State.
The attack, which happened barely 24-hours after fishermen in the state protested frequent attacks and abductions of members, left no less than 20 victims stranded on water due to the attackers’ seizing of their outboard engines.
In an interview with journalists on Wednesday, spokesperson for the fishermen, Oluwajuwon Ogunbiyi, disclosed that the attack occurred on Tuesday night.
According to him, “Last night, around 7 pm, we got a report that the sea pirates attacked two board engines off the coast of Ibaka.
“Those people are now stranded on the waterways. About 20 persons were in the bigger boat, while the other one contained five people.
“No one could go there that night for rescue operation for fear of being attacked. These fishermen are still stranded on the waterways.
“They seized their outboard engines and left them there, and each outboard engine cost over N2.5m, and I am not even sure that you will see any of these engines to buy in Nigeria.”
He blamed the constant attacks on the lack of maintained security by Naval operatives while urging the Forward Operation Base in Ibaka to intensify patrols on the waterways to minimise the incidence of aggression and abduction of fishers operating in the state.
“The only reason these sea pirates attack the fishermen is that there is no patrol,” he said.
Ogunbiyi also commended the state commissioner of Police, Andrew Amiengheme, for active response to the situation.
On his part, the commanding officer of Forward Operation Base, Ibaka, Capt. Abu denied the alleged lack of patrol on the waterways by the base.
