Twenty-four hours after members of the Move-ment for the Emancipa-tion of the Niger Delta (MEND) attacked the Central Police Station in Port Harcourt to secure the release of their detained leader, Sobomabo George, the state police command yesterday said it lost 125 detainees in the process to the militants. The detainees, according to the police command, were forcefully released from its cells by the militants.
Following this development, the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Sunday Ehindero, has promised to provide the force with Armoured Personnel carriers to help them put the militants in check in the Niger Delta.
But the Coalition for Militant Action in the Niger Delta (COMA) in a statement by its leader, Alaye Teme, dissociated itself from the mayhem and rather called for the immediate release of Alhaji Mujadin Asari Dokubo from detention to stem the ugly tide.
Briefing newsmen on the incident, Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr. Felix Ogbaudu, explained that the militants were armed to the teeth and had better understanding of the creeks and used the knowledge to pull the stunts that caused the disturbance on Sunday which lasted for over four hours.
Giving the breakdown, Ogbaudu said of the figure, 105 suspects were released from the Criminal Investigations Depart-ment (CID) while the 20 others were released by the militants from the Central Police Station where police vehicles were smashed while others had dynamite thrown on them.
“We had an unfortunate incident yesterday (Sunday) in Port Harcourt. We had an attack by militants on two police stations, the State CID and Central Police Station here in Port Harcourt. At about 1.00pm, we heard sporadic shooting and sound of dynamites that were being detonated.
“Initially, the impression was that there was an attack on the prison yard and so most of my men were deployed to that area where they had a fierce exchange of gunfire with the militants and they were pushed back to the water front.
“But while that was going on, we were informed that other militants had moved out through the water front as there are a lot of jetties there and they were moving towards the State CID and Central Police Station with a view to attack and release some detainees”, he said.
Ogbaudu said he later learnt that they were moving to free one George Soboma who radio contacts said was not with them as he had on having a traffic infraction, given a different identity to the men who took him to the State CID.
On learning that the problem was not targeted at the prisons, he said the police remobilised their men to confront the militants who were moving towards the State CID and Central Police Station but that despite their efforts to stop them, the militants still found their way into the two stations.
“There was a fierce exchange of gunfire, eventually, the militants made their way despite the police confrontation to the State CID and the Central Police Station. They released 105 suspects at the State CID and 20 at the Central Police Station.
“That was where I got to know that one Soboma George was being kept for traffic contravention. I understand he was driving in the car at the stop and search point of the police, he refused to stop. The police chased, caught up with him and he was eventually arrested. �While he was there, he may have made some contacts and the militants were all over the place. That was how parts of the city were under siege for close to four hours.
“Having released Soboma, as they were withdrawing, they destroyed a lot of cars, some belonging to the police. If you go out to the streets now, you will still see a tanker and some others, In fact, the windscreen of my officers� cars were also shattered. On the part of the police, seven of our vehicles were damaged beyond repairs, some others were vandalised and can be repaired except the seven they used dynamites on”, he lamented.
The police commissioner stated that after taking their leader out of the station and retreating to the creeks, by around 8 pm, the situation returned to normal.
Shortly after Ogbaudu concluded the briefing, the Assistant Inspector General (AIG) in charge of Zone 6, Calabar, Mr Adewale Ajakaiye, called at the Police Headquarters in the State where he described the incident as unfortunate especially as regards the inability of the police to know on time about the planned attack.
He however assured that they were on top of the situation, adding that they were going to win the war against militancy. He however said he was not surprised by the attack.
Condemning the attack on the police stations, COMA said the incident proved beyond any reasonable doubt that the current agitation for the liberation of the Niger Delta as espoused by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) was a “farce”.
COMA dismissed MEND as “Nothing but a fraudulent organisation made up of criminals and outlawed bandits who have continued to exploit the absence of Alhaji Mujahid Asari Dokubo to unleash mayhem on the Niger Delta”.
They therefore called on the federal government to immediately ensure the unconditional release of Dokubo from detention and further called on Ijaw leaders to come out and press for the immediate release of their leader for him to ensure return of sanity in the region.
The MEND had Sunday admitted that it was involved in a gun duel with the police in Port Harcourt to free one of its commanders arrested by the police.
In a statement, the leader of MEND, Gbomo Jomo, said that their detained leader, Sobomabo George, was on January 28, at1330hrs taken to the Special Investigation Bureau (SIB) until his men numbering 50 and armed with machine guns, grenades and assault rifles freed him from there.
“Fighters of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, Sunday, staged a successful rescue of one of our senior commanders in Port Harcourt, Rivers State of the Niger Delta.
Sobomabo George was arrested in rivers state of January 28, around 1330hrs and taken under heavy armed escort to the SIIB in Port Harcourt where he was held until the rescue which involved 50 of our fighters armed with machine guns, grenades and assault rifles.
“Policemen and soldiers guarding the police unit where he was being held, were subdued after a one hour firefight in which the police employed the use of an armored personnel carrier and military helicopter gunships.
‘We lost none of our fighters in the encounter which saw the destruction of the SIIB and the rivers state police headquarters. Our fighters have since retreated to the creeks with our prize”, MEND said.
Jan302007