Chief Williams Mkpah, the Transitional
Chairman of Ibeno Local Government Area has said that sea pirates kidnapped
eight fishermen fishing in Akwa Ibom.
Mkpah confirmed the kidnap in an interview in
Ibeno, Akwa Ibom on Saturday.
According to him, Ibeno is prone to sea
piracy activities.
He said, “Two nights ago six fishermen were
kidnapped on Thursday night, Aug. 18 and two on Friday morning, Aug. 19 in the
creeks of Ibeno and its environs.
“As I am speaking sea pirates are increasing
in the Ibeno community and they want to ensure that that they stop fishermen
from going to sea for fishing.”
Mkpah said that the sea pirates were
demanding for millions of naira as ransom from the fishermen before releasing
them.
He explained that the fishermen were made to
pay levies by the sea pirates before they go for fishing in the area.
He alleged that “they have informant in our
communities, who will inform them of the take off of a particular fisherman and
possible routes where they are going for fishing.
“One of them was caught in Eket in the process
of coming to collect ransom for somebody, one of the Ibeno boys made us to
track him.
“And he has made useful statement to the
police but as I speak now I don’t know what the Police Command in Uyo is doing
about it.
“Since the suspect was caught, the issue of
sea pirates increased seriously and they are now demanding for their man.
“Since we don’t want to release their man,
they have now resorted to kidnapping of every fishermen,’’ Mkpah said.
Mkpah called on the security operatives to be
more proactive in combating sea piracy in the state.
“In a very short while we will declare hunger
strike in this community because when we can no longer go to sea, we will all
be starving.
“If the security in this state cannot rise to
the challenge of the people of Ibeno and salvage us from this menace, Ibeno
people will die of hunger,’’ he said.
He said that he has officially written to
security operatives in the state but no response.
“I have reporter the matter to DSS, Police,
Navy and state government and they are all aware and I have sent reports but no
response yet,’’ Mkpah said.
Reacting, the Public Relation Officer of the
Police Command in Akwa Ibom, ASP. Cordelia Nwawe, said that they were not aware
of the kidnap of the eight fishermen in Ibeno.
“They should make an official reports to the
Akwa Ibom Command for proper investigations. They should official tell the
police, so I don’t have the reports and I can’t comment on it,’’ Nwawe said.
No comments:
Post a Comment