Gunmen have
shot and killed four personnel of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps
(NSCDC) in Obeafor community in Omoku, Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni
Local Government Area
of Rivers State.
There was
confrontation between the NSCDC operatives and suspected criminals, which led
to the death of the victims on Monday.
The personnel
were guarding oil facilities of the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) in Obeafor
when the bandits dressed in military fatigue
ambushed them.
The state’s
spokesperson of the corps, Mr. Michael Oguntuase, who confirmed the incident to
journalists, in Port Harcourt said there was a gun duel between the operatives
and the hoodlums, after when the operatives realised that they were not
soldiers.
He said
several persons, who were injured during
the shootout, were taken to hospital.
He stated that
the command had vowed to sustain the
fight against pipeline vandalism and illegal oil bunkering in the region.
Also, the
Commandant, Mrs. Helen Amakiri, who lamented the loss of the operatives, noted
that the incident would only encourage them to improve and work harder.
Amakiri said
it occurred at about 6.40pm, adding that
the command had earlier, through intelligence gathering, got information that
the Agip facilities in Omoku would be attacked.
She said
security signals were sent to the Joint Military Task Force (JTF) for
reinforcement and maintained that the NSCDC operatives had thought the presence
of some men in camouflage at the place was a response to the call for
reinforcement.
She said: “It
was not as if we did not know that there was a plan to attack because we got
the intelligence like three days back and we were on red alert. We had even
sent some signals to the JTF to help us reinforce and beef up security at that
time.”
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