LAST week�s shootings by rival gangs in Port Harcourt were only part of a grand plot to turn the entire Niger Delta into a theatre of war, Vanguard has learnt.
Over 20 lives were lost in the six-day shootings. Fifteen people died on Saturday alone when bandits blew up the NNPC mega filling station in the city.
Security sources told Vanguard that the brains behind the Port Harcourt mayhem were all out to undermine the nation�s security using the Rivers State incident to test the waters.
�Government is looking at the situation in Rivers State with all seriousness because we have found out that it would have led to grave consequences for the country if the attacks and killings were not nipped in the bud immediately,� one source said in Abuja.
Rivers lawmaker, 4 others arrested
Meantime, a member of the Rivers State House of Assembly and four others have been arrested by the State Security Service (SSS) for allegedly sponsoring the crisis in Port Harcourt.
The lawmaker who had gone to his office in the Assembly complex was invited by the SSS for questioning and subsequently detained. He was still being quizzed at press time.
Sources said he was invited to explain how his campaign posters found their way into a vehicle reportedly used by the cultists last Saturday when they killed about 15 persons.
Also found in the car were live bullets and one AK-47 rifle. Sources said the cultists ran into a military patrol van that Saturday and immediately opened fire. But they were not so lucky as they were gunned down by the soldiers.
Meanwhile, the Police say they have intensified search for ringleaders of the various cult groups in the state. At press time, areas like Marine Base and other slum settlements in the state capital had been raided by the JTF.
More soldiers, APCs deployed
It was gathered that President Umaru Yar�Adua had directed the Chief of Defence Staff, General Owoye Azazi, to mobilise the Armed Forces for an urgent meeting to discuss the issue and come up with practical solutions.
�The state would not be allowed to fall into the hands of militants and cultists because of its importance to the nation,� the source said.
Soldiers moved into the streets of Port Harcourt on Sunday to secure the city from armed gangs that had held it and the residents hostage for six days.
“More troops may be deployed there if necessary. More military hardware including Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) are also to be moved there,” sources said, adding: �We have a presidential directive to flush out militants in the state, checkmate cult activities and restore peace to the state because government is worried about the negative implications of the crisis there for the economy.�
Also yesterday, Defence Minister, Alhaji Yayale Ahmed, said yesterday that the Federal Government would not interfere in the internal security of any state unless as a last resort.
Receiving in his office his Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) counterpart, Dr.Aliyu Umar, Alhaji Yayale said rather than deploy military troops at the slightest provocation, the Federal government would exhaust all available dialogue in the spirit of democracy.
The Minister who noted that demolition of structures by the FCTA must have a human face, said demolition issues must be handled with care considering the social effect, adding that the government while pulling down houses of the people, should also be considerate in building houses as well.
According to him, the people and the government must be prepared to do things in the right way, even as he said the issue of security and control of armed robberies must be paramount in the administration of the FCT if the country must witness changes and growth.
�Security is very important, Abuja must be free, it must be free of armed robbers. In 2005, I was a victim of armed robbers where I was asked to lie down, I did,� he said.
Earlier, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA, Dr. Aliyu Umar, who said he was on a visit to the Defence Minister to solicit his support in the area of security in the FCT, said one of the seven-point agenda of the president was that of security which he must address.