Gunmen shot dead Assembly leader in Rivers

                            

Gunmen in military uniform

Gunmen have shot dead the Leader of the Ahoada West legislative Assembly, Rivers State, Ekele Chikobi, popularly known as “EFCC” on Thursday along the now notorious Ahole-Emohua axis of the East West road.

This is coming as suspected pirates, armed with sophisticated weapons raided the Bakana Jetty on Thursday, after shooting sporadically to scare people and carted away seven boats.

Eyewitness report has it that Ekele was traveling in the convoy of the lawmaker representing Ahoada West Constituency in the Rivers House of Assembly, Augustine Wanaka Okpokori, when they were ambushed by gunmen who opened fire on them killing Ekele, while scores of others sustained bullet wounds.

“In the melee, the hoodlums whisked away some of the passengers into the bush. The deceased lawmaker were returning to Port Harcourt after the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, ward to ward campaign ahead of the general elections”.

The killing of the young politician has elicited anger among the Ekpeye Youth umbrella body who has called on the security agencies to overhaul the security along the East West road, especially tge Emohua stretch.
They also accused the policemen along that route of connivance.They also called on the youth leaders of Rumuji, Elele, Ndele and Emohua to call their youths to order to avoid reprisal attacks, stating that the killing of the young Ekpeye politician was one too many in recent weeks and month.

In both incidents,the Rivers State Police Command has not made comments on both incidents.
In a related development, suspected Pirates, armed with sophisticated weapons raided the Bakana Jetty and carted away seven boats.

Confirming this incident in a telephone interview, the president of Bakana Federation, Francis Dick, narrated that the suspected pirates stormed the jetty after shooting sporadically, towed away the speedboats anchored at the jetty.

According to Bakana Youth Leader, Francis Dick, no casualty was recorded but that the shooting that lasted for about half an hour caused panic, making coastal residents scamper for safety.

“Late last night, some armed hoodlums stormed tge Bakana jetty, shot sporadically, loosen the packed boats and towed seven of them away. In less than an hour, they made a return trip to steal more. But residents who were already awake challenged them before they fled, but not without shooting severely,” the Youth leader said.

He further revealed that “along the coastline of Bakana, there were a lot of illegal activities of the Niger Delta youths. When they steal the boats, the highly priced item on it are the engines on the stolen speedboats, which they easily sell off. The engines are very expensive in the boats market.
“This is a regular occurrence. In the second week of January, similar incident happened.”
Meanwhile, the Rivers State Government has called on the Inspector General of Police, Department of State Services and other security agencies to fish out the killers of Ahoada West LG Legislative Assembly, Ekele.