Fierce-looking riot policemen on Monday morning took over some parts of the Port Harcourt metropolis, turning away vehicles and pedestrians from the roads, as they began a frantic search for the militants who attacked them on Sunday.
Our correspondent gathered that the police had been deployed in various parts of the state in order to track down the militants.
The militants on Sunday afternoon broke into the Central Police Station in Port Harcourt and released their leader, Soboma George, and no fewer than 200 suspects who were awaiting trial for various offences.
The gunmen also engaged the police in a gun duel and destroyed eleven vehicles in the process. Eight of the vehicles belonged to the police while the rest were private cars.
The burnt vehicles had been moved to the Operations Department of the Nigerian Police Force in Port Harcourt but the police barred our correspondent from getting close to the area and taking pictures.
A cameraman with the Africa Independent Television, Mr. Godswill Ikezam, who attempted to record on tape the activities of the policemen as they were turning away motorists in front of the police headquarters in Port Harcourt, was arrested and detained.
It took the intervention of the Police Public Relations Officer, Mrs. Ireju Barasua, to secure the release of the cameraman from the police custody.
The policemen cordoned off the road leading to the police headquarters at the junction that leads to the State Government House and the Port Harcourt City Local Government Secretariat.
Vehicles were also not allowed to park at the frontage of the Alfred Dietie Spiff Civic Centre, which shares a common fence with the police headquarters.
The angry policemen numbering 30 were apparently deployed from a nearby formation to deal with the worsening security situation in the state capital and were armed with sophisticated weapons.
The gates to the Central Police Station were also locked and manned by stern-looking riot policemen, making it difficult for photojournalists to get in and take photographs of the damaged vehicles and buildings.
As the policemen were turning away residents from the Mosco Road , scores of riot policemen were being deployed in other parts of the state capital.
Some armed soldiers and riot policemen were also seen patrolling the streets in fast-moving trucks.
The Police Commissioner, State Command, Mr. Felix Ugbaudu, told journalists on Monday that the arrest of George, one of the militant leaders in the state for traffic offence sparked off the attack.
Ugbaudu said that George, who was taken to the Surveillance and Intelligence Bureau for interrogation, contacted his fellow militants who stormed the place and freed him and other suspects in the cell.
�They, (the militants) came with very sophisticated weapons and attacked our men and facilities�, the commissioner said.
Although no policeman was killed, a young girl was hit by bullets and she later died.
Ugbaudu said efforts were on to arrest those behind the attack.
Meanwhile, the Public Relations Officer of the Port Harcourt Prisons, Dr. Gladday Jaja, has denied any attack on the prison by militants.
Jaja told our correspondent on the phone that the militants merely passed through the vicinity of the prison but did not enter the prison and get free any inmates as reported by some media.
Meanwhile, one of the leading militants in the state, Mr. Ateke Tom, on Monday threatened to fight back if security agents in the state continued to attack him and his supporters.
Ateke, who spoke through one of his aides, Richard Robinson, warned that he would no longer fold his hands and allowed agents of the government to destroy him and his business.
Ateke has been underground following three unsuccessful attempts by men of the Joint Task Force to arrest and prosecute him for various offences.
In one of the raids on his country home in May last year, three Sport Utility Vehicles and assorted household items were taken away by the JTF and deposited as exhibits at the police headquarters in Port Harcourt .
He also alleged that only last Friday, the JTF killed one of his supporters at a base close to Bonny, saying that the action was an affront on him.
Ateke also denied being killed or even wounded by the JTF as reported by some media houses in the state.
�I want to state that I am hale and hearty and that the JTF has not even seen me not to talk of attacking me,� he added.