Suspected gunmen attack police checkpoint, cart away rifles in Asaba

MOSOP blames FG for insecurity in Ogoniland

A police inspector and two rank and files attached to Delta State Police Command in Asaba, Delta State, were at the weekend attacked at a check-point by suspected bandits who carted away two rifles.The victims were reportedly said to be manning the NIPPI Point at Inter-bau Roundabout by ASCON Filling Station in Asaba where they were attacked by the bandits.

In a shocking reaction, the Delta State Commissioner of Police, CP Adeyinka Adeleke, denied that the incident ever happened, saying: “It is not true. How come you’re confirming to me?”

Meanwhile, a source told The Guardian that the policemen at the checkpoint actually comprised seven-man team but only five reported for duty that very day. And that while the five officers were manning the point, one Sergeant Azuka called the team leader to send the vehicle to the State Headquarters to convey someone to Area Command’s Quarter which made the patrol van driver and one officer to leave the duty post.Victims at the time of the attack were said to have sustained deep machete cuts from the hoodlums who allegedly disarmed two of the police officers.

Also, another reliable source said the bandits attacked the policemen about 15 minutes after the patrol van left with the driver and one of the officers, leaving only three officers behind at the NIPPI Point.The only lucky one of them was the police corporal who was said to have escaped with his own rifle but also suffered machete cuts in his hand.

In another development, the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) has accused the Federal Government of deliberately creating the insecurity situation in Ogoniland to cause crisis for its planned oil resumption in the region. President of MOSOP, Fegalo Nsuke, in a statement, said that the situation was not out of control yet, but due to government’s failure to provide the needed logistics, it has become security problem in the area.

“We blame the Federal Government for the current situation for not providing patrol vans for the police at Divisional Headquarters in Bori Local Council to curb insecurity in Ogoniland,” he said.He said the action of government in neglecting the police in Ogoniland over a long period was a calculated attempt to create the present situation where their agents will call for military. Nsuke, therefore, appealed to government not to allow things to deteriorate so as to pave way for repression of civil activists calling for justice in Ogoni and consequently enhance oil resumption in Ogoniland.