The security situation in Rivers State dipped for the worse yesterday as suspected assassins stormed the residence of the Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly, Hon Charles Befii Nwile.
However, Nwile was lucky to have gone out before the assassins arrived.
The incident is coming on the heels of a bank robbery yesterday in Bonny, Rivers State where robbers around 11am attacked an ECOBANK branch.
Also yesterday, a bullion van conveying cash from Aba to the Central Bank in Port Harcourt was attacked and four police escorts injured.
The suspected assassins said to be five disarmed the police guards in the house of Nwile of their weapons which they allegedly took away after discovering that the deputy speaker was not at home.
Spokesman of the Joint Task Force in the State, Lt. Col. Musa Sagir who confirmed the incident said the gunmen went to the lawmaker�s official residence at Amadi flats, in the Government Reserved Area (GRA) but left without killing anyone.
People at the residence of the deputy speaker said that the men who arrived with an Infinity 4×4 vehicle had demanded to see the wife of the lawmaker but when told by the police guards that the woman was not at home, they were disappointed and pulled their guns at him.
The Police Public Relations Officer, Mrs. Ireju Barasua confirmed the incident but said that they were still gathering intelligence on it and therefore lacked details.
The father of the Deputy Speaker, 70 year old Pa Lawrence Nwile was on October 5, 2007 kidnapped from his house in Ogoni and released 10 days after one Johnbull Robinson who led the attack was arrested by security men.
The Joint Task Force Spokesman, Lt. Colonel Musa Sagir said that his men who went to confront the bullion van robbers recovered N55, 880,000 from the scene of the incident and have since handed over the money to the bank officials.”There were two different armed robbery incidents recorded, one in Bonny where robbers attacked ECOBANK and carted away unspecified amount of money at the counter. They were unable to access the strong room due to rapid response from JTF troops.
“The second one is that robbers ambushed a bullion van carrying millions of Naira from Zenith Bank, Aba branch to Port Harcourt branch. The vehicle somersaulted, scattering money all over.�
Sagir confirmed that some policemen and two civilians in the Bullion van sustained slight injuries and were being treated at an undisclosed hospital.
Eyewitnesses of the Bonny robbery who came to Port Harcourt said that there were two ladies among he gang that arrived the bank around 11am. �They came with heavy weapons and fired sporadically,� an eyewitness said.
Jan192008