Pirates attacks: Bonny Island residents storm Rivers Govt House, Assembly in protest

Residents of Bonny Local Government Area in Rivers State on Thursday carried out a fresh protest, this time they stormed the Government House and Rivers State House of Assembly in Port Harcourt, the state capital.

The protesters are calling for an immediate end to the attacks and killings on the Bonny Island waterway by pirates.

The protesters, mainly the youths marched from UTC junction on Azikiwe road to Government House Port Harcourt to register their grievances and to the Rivers State House of Assembly where the member representing Bonny Constituency, addressed them.

Part of their demands is for the government to set up security checkpoints on the Bonny high sea and empower security agencies to tackle violent crime.

The Rivers State Government in July 2019 launched a special security initiative, codenamed “Operation Sting” in which patrol vehicles and gunboats were donated to security agencies to tackle violent crimes on roads and waterways in the state.

The Rivers State Police Command last week deployed 366 special constabularies to various localities for its community policing initiative, but the Bonny protesters say there has been no improvement in the security situation in bonny.

Bonny Local Government Area can only be accessed through the high sea, as the Federal Government’s 120 billion Naira, 37-kilometer bridge to connect the Island to mainland Rivers State is yet to be completed.

Some residents had earlier on Monday staged a protest on the Island over the insecurity which they say has claimed many lives.

The protesters told Channels Television that the most recent of the attacks was on January 5, 2021, when two indigenes drowned in the river after pirates attacked their boat.

They added that the pirates after the attack made away with valuables from the passengers, and asked them to jump into the high sea.

Protesters list names of victims of the attacks which dates back to 2015. (Channels TV)