The people of Kula community in Akuku-Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State have seized an oil vessel and two tugboats linked to last Tuesday’s boat accident at the Robertkiri axis. The tugboats were identified as “Delta Runner” and “Lorra Five,” and were seized while investigations continue. The two boat captains were reportedly arrested by police.
After the last two victims’ bodies were recovered, the leader of the search and rescue team, Sukubo Sara-Igbe Sukubo, who is also president of the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), alleged that the incident was deliberate, not an accident, and was orchestrated by the Ibeto Group.
He claimed that the group’s founder had earlier threatened to deal with anyone who tried to disrupt the waterways and stop the company from moving its vessel, “MV Anambra Basin,” out of Oceania community.
The report says ten people died after their boat capsized during a confrontation over an oil spill at OML-55 in Kula. It says the incident followed a protest by community members over alleged unpaid royalties, outstanding vendor payments, and pollution, during which they blocked the movement of MT Anambra Basin, operated by the Ibeto Group. Max Shipping Services Limited, the vessel’s owner, has denied that its chairman, Chief Cletus Ibeto, was involved.
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Governor Siminalayi Fubara, speaking on Thursday at Government House, Port Harcourt, through his Chief of Staff, Sunny Ewule, sympathised with the bereaved families and appealed to Kula residents to stay calm and not take the law into their own hands.
He said that anyone found culpable would face the full force of the law and that the government would not rest until it got to the bottom of the matter. “We are not going to sit by and allow Rivers indigenes go through this type of unnecessary death,” he said. Community leader High Chief Anabs Sara-Igbe, who led the delegation, said they came to formally complain and seek government intervention, adding, “We have the capacity to react but we don’t want to react.”
Rivers Police spokesperson ASP Blessing Agabe said the command is aware of the incident, which reportedly led to loss of life, and that an investigation is under way to establish the exact number of casualties and what happened. The command has described the incident as a boat capsizing during a confrontation between youths and men in military uniform.
