Residents of Diobu and other parts of old Port Harcourt Township may not sleep well for days as a result of the trauma of gun shots that forced them to stay awake on Sunday night.
Policemen were battling to rescue a doctor, Umoh Abasi Umoh, from the hands of kidnappers who kept him in a makeshift house in the Njemanze area of Diobu.
Umoh, who was kidnapped last Friday, stayed with his abductors throughout the weekend but was rescued when policemen engaged the criminals in a gun duel.
But the gun shots caused so much panic that some residents planned to flee town.
Police Public Relations Officer, Rita Inoma-Abbey, said Umoh was freed without being harmed. No arrest was made, however.
Governor Rotimi Amaechi’s acting Chief Press Secretary, Blessing Wikina, issued a statement which quoted him as urging the people of Rivers State, particularly those in Port Harcourt, not to panic over the shootings.
He gave an assurance that the police are on top of the situation and residents should go about their normal businesses with the assurances of adequate security.
The statement appealed to them to report suspicious movements to the security agencies.
On Monday, the leader of the United Niger Delta Energy Development Security Strategy (UNDEDSS), Pat Utomi, set an agenda for Abuja ahead of Thursday’s announcement of the terms of amnesty for militants willing to embrace peace.
He said in a statement that unless the amnesty being proposed is comprehensive (covering every identified militant, free or at large) and the implementation of DDR is pursued with sincerity and deliberate purpose the potential gains of the amnesty initiative could be lost.
“UNDEDSS therefore, on behalf of the civil society organisations, the ethnic nationalities, and professional groups of the Niger Delta, call on the relevant decision makers to bear January 1970 in mind as the civil war ended with the euphoria of ‘no victor no vanquished’ which led us to the Reconciliation, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction programmes that earned us the respect of the world.”
Utomi warned that no one should allow people with narrow views of law and order over a great vision of progress to undermine the chance of a comprehensive deal that will provide impetus for progress.
“It is my view that only after such progress of a comprehensive all-inclusive amnesty over a reasonable period of time (between 60 and 90 days minimum), acceptable to all stakeholders, has been put in place should the full military might of the sovereign state be invoked on any elements that disrupt plans for sustained economic advancement around Nigeria.”