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Tag: Hilary Opara

  • ‘How we deal with Boko Haram scare in Bayelsa’

    The Commissioner of Police in Bayelsa State, Mr. Hilary Opara, has said his command is dealing with Boko Haram scare in the state.

    Opara in an exclusive interview in Yenagoa, the state capital, said he had taken many proactive measures to secure the state and prevent insurgents from using any part of it to launch attack.

    “Boko Haram happens to be an arm group. The proliferation, transformation and sophistication of various arm groups all over the world is a reflection of the character of the 21st century.

    “It is not peculiar to Nigeria. People should know this. These things are powered by various variance of globalization. If you look round in the world today, you see this kind of thing happening.

    “But that is not to say we are not actually doing something to curtail the menace of these arm groups,” Opara said.

    He said as part of the proactive measures, his command had embarked on widespread enlightenment campaign to sensitise and create security consciousness among the people.

    He said the police convened an enlarged stakeholders’ meeting where owners of business, social and religious places were mandated to form localised security committees.

    According to him formation of such committees were made compulsory for churches, hotels, mosques, supermarkets and others whose business attracts people.

    “We told them to be vigilant and to police their environment to complement what we the security agencies do. So, for instance the people are now aware that somebody can come and drop something that can harm them and they are now looking out for such people.

    “It is no longer something meant for security agencies alone. This is what we have achieved already in Bayelsa. We have made jingles on radio and television. This is in form of sensitisation of the public so that they will know that the issue of security is the business of everybody,” the police commissioner said.

     

  • Woman stabs soldier

    Woman stabs soldier

    A commercial sex worker has allegedly stabbed a soldier attached to the Joint Task Force (JTF), Operation Pulo Shield to death for “refusing” to pay for her services.

    The soldier was reportedly stabbed twice in the stomach by his sex partner identified as a Bini girl.

    The incident, which occurred at 4am yesterday, caused panic among other prostitutes at the red light district at Hospital Road Junction on DSP Alamieyeseigha Way, Yenagoa.

    Other customers were said to have hurriedly left the area to avoid the prying eyes of onlookers.

    There were conflicting reports on when the soldier died, some said he died instantly, others said he gave up the ghost in the hospital.

    An eyewitness said an argument emanated from the suspect’s shanty in the morning.

    She said: “After the soldier refused to pay, there was an argument very early in the morning. The girl who was angry grabbed a knife and stabbed the soldier in the stomach. We later saw the soldier struggling with blood flowing from the wound in his stomach.

    “We are now living in fear because there may be reprisal attack from other soldiers. Most of us have decided to stay away from the area for sometimes.”

    The Commissioner of Police, Hilary Opara, said the “culprit had been arrested”.

    He, however, said the police were yet to receive report of the victim’s death.

     

  • Confusion as police stop pro-Jonathan rally in Bayelsa

    Confusion as police stop pro-Jonathan rally in Bayelsa

    •‘We intervened to avert bloodshed’

    There was confusion in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State yesterday after armed policemen stormed Opolo area to stop a rally organised to drum support for President Goodluck Jonathan’s reelection in 2015.

    It was gathered that a group under the aegis of the New Dawn Initiative Development (NDID) put the rally together to mobilise support for Jonathan in his home state.

    But the police in a swift reaction quickly gave reasons for their action.

    The commissioner of Police, Hilary Opara, in a statement signed by the police public relations officer (PRO), Mr. Alex Akhigbe, said intelligence uncovered a plot by a splinter group to disrupt the rally.

    He said a faction of the pro-Jonathan group had perfected a plot to cause violence during the rally, which he said could lead to the breach of the peace.

    Opara said the police advised the pro-Jonathan group to reschedule the rally for another day.

    He explained: “The police have directed the group known as New Dawn Initiative Development to reschedule the rally billed to take place at Opolo Secondary School, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.

    “This was premised on the available intelligence to the command that a splinter group had perfected plans to attack and disrupt the rally which could lead to breach of the peace.

    “Finally, the police command hereby advises good people of Bayelsa and in particular political groups to always make efforts to settle their internal differences before requesting for police permit for rallies”.

    But tempers were high as many members of the pro-Jonathan group claimed that the action bore the stamp of the government.

    They insisted that the action came against the backdrop of insinuations that the senior special assistant to the president on Domestic Matters, Dr. Waripamowei Dudafagh, was behind the group.

    There have been speculations that Dudafagh, who is a close friend of Dame Patience, the wife of President Jonathan, is positioning himself to unseat Dickson in 2016.

    He was said to have floated the new political group to drive the process of making him a governor in 2016.

    Some members of the group believe that the police acted based on rumours that the rally was to endorse the governorship ambition of Dudafagh.

    However, close aides to the state governor, Seriake Dickson, said the present administration has been an avid supporter of the president and would not do anything to jeopardise his reelection.

    They said that Dickson has been rallying support for the president and wondered why some mischief-makers were trying to pit him against Jonathan.

    According to them, Dickson could not have given an order to stop the rally since he travelled overseas for an official assignment.

    It was learnt that the group had secured a permit from the state police command to hold the rally.

    Following the permit, members of the group from the eight local government areas were said to have started arriving at the rally ground at 8.30am.

    Banners bearing pictures of President Jonathan and the Vice-President Nnamadi Sambo, were mounted within and outside the venue.

    But trouble was said to have started at about 9am when a detachment of armed policemen and an armoured personnel carrier (APC) stormed the area and asked members of the group to vacate the venue.

    A member of the group from the Ekeremor Local Government Area, Preye Ebiade, described the action of police provocative.

    He insisted that the rally was designed to ask the President Jonathan to heed the yearnings of kinsmen and declare for 2015 reelection.

    He said: “The New Dawn had, while sending out invitations to political leaders and elders on the rally, extended invitation to the State Governor, Hon. Seriake Dickson. He acknowledged the invitation and promised to attend.

    “This action is politically motivated. The Jonathan’s re-election should be a collective project and one person should not abort that dream on his own selfish altar for second term in Bayelsa.”

  • Police arrest six suspected robbers

    The police in Bayelsa State have arrested six suspects, who allegedly robbed a home in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area, and escaped with the owner of the house.

    It was gathered that marine police officers intercepted the bandits on the Southern Ijaw waterways and freed their victim, a woman.

    A police source said the suspects robbed a home at Diabu and escaped with some valuables, taking the woman with them.

    “They were armed with AK47 rifles. They stormed a home, stole valuables. Curiously, they took a woman along with them.

    “But they ran out of luck when some marine policemen intercepted them on the Southern Ijaw waterway. They are being detained at the headquarters of the command in Yenagoa,” he said.

    The Commissioner of Police, Hilary Opara, said three AK47 rifles were recovered from the hoodlums.

    He said the command was ready to tackle criminality.

     

  • Jonathan’s cousin: Police arrest six

    Jonathan’s cousin: Police arrest six

    • Patriarch still in captivity

    Six suspects have been arrested in connection with the kidnap of Inengite Nitabai, who is President Goodluck Jonathan’s cousin.

    Nitabai was abducted by 10 gunmen on February 23 at his home in Otuoke, Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.

    He was driven out of his compound in his Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) by the bandits, who harassed his in-law and collected N400,000 from his wife.

    There were concerns over Nitabai’s health after rumours of his death spread in Yenagoa.

    Commissioner of Police Hilary Opara said six persons had been arrested in connection with the incident.

    He, however, said he could not confirm rumours of the victim’s death.

    “All l can tell you is that we are working very hard to ensure that the victim is released unhurt. We are sure that we can free him,” he said.

    It was gathered that the kidnappers had promised to release their victim on Sunday but they failed to show up at Akemplai village in Ogbia.

    Family members were said to have gathered at a location in the village to receive Nitabai but they waited in vain for him.

    A family member, who was at the location from 9pm to 1am, said the abductors deceived them.

    “We learnt that he was going to be released at Akemplai village in Ogbia. We went there and waited for hours. We neither saw the kidnappers nor their victim. We came back home disappointed and worried,” the source said.

    It was further gathered that security agencies surrounded the village and the waterside with their gunboats as they waited for Nitabai.

    Troops from the Joint Task Force (JTF), police anti-kidnap squad and the Department of State Security (DSS) were said to have laid ambush in the area.

    The troops were reportedly withdrawn at 5am on Monday after the fruitless waiting game.

    It was gathered that the police stormed Odioma in Brass local government area and arrested the father of the suspected ring leader of the gang.

    The police were also said to have sent a special squad to an undisclosed location outside the state in search of Nitabai.

    The troops were reportedly withdrawn at 5am yesterday after the fruitless waiting game.

    It was gathered that the police stormed Odioma in Brass Local Government Area and arrested the father of the suspected ring leader of the gang.

    The police were also said to have sent a special squad to an undisclosed location outside the state in search of Nitabai.

    His assailants had initially demanded N500m ransom but rejected N30million offered them by the family members.

    They described the offer as “too small” and demanded more money from the Presidency.

    Jonathan paid a private visit to Otuoke, his hometown, in Ogbia Local Government Area, last Friday.

    He attended the funeral of the late father of his aide, Mr. Patrick Oba, who hails from his hometown.

    The President was reportedly briefed by heads of security agencies and his family members of their efforts to free Nitabai.

     

  • Two feared dead in Bayelsa shoot-out

    Only the intervention of the naval unit in the area brought the situation under control.

    The state police commissioner, Mr. Hilary Opara, said “It is untrue that Police attacked the community, how can we be attacking the people we are paid to protect? We were notified that there was a fight in the community and we deployed men to the area.

    “The people may have misunderstood our mission when the team arrived there. We saw them at the water front there and we asked our men to come back to avoid confrontation.

    “We went there to maintain the peace and not to fight anyone, and I have asked my DPO in the area to bring all the factions to my office on Monday so that we can further explore the opportunity of brokering peace.”

     

     

     

  • Police stop ASUU street protest in Bayelsa

    The police on Tuesday continued their nationwide clampdown on street protests organised by the Academic Staff Union of Universities.

    This time it was in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, where the Niger Delta University’s chapter of the union was prevented by the police from holding a public rally to protest the Federal Government’s refusal to implement the 2009 agreement signed by both parties.

    The Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr. Hilary Opara, was said to have issued an order to the leadership of ASUU-NDU preventing any form of public protest by the union.

    The order, however, allowed the aggrieved university lecturers to hold their protest within the university’s Law Faculty in Yenagoa.

    The placard-carrying lecturers soon converted their protest to a prayer session where they took turns to “cast and bind” all the spirits that had prevented the government from honoring the agreement.

    The lecturers also sought divine intervention to all the cases of blackmail and intimidation against the union by the Federal Government.

    Chairman of ASUU-NDU, Beke Sese, who addressed the rally, also disclosed that the Chief Security Officer (CSO) to Governor Seriake Dickson interrogated him few hours to the planned protest.

    Some of the placards displayed by the lecturers bore messages such as, “Not every child can go to Ghana to study,” “Agreement is Agreement,” “Government save our universities,” “Poor people’s children need universities,” “Can your child afford to go to Ghana and Malaysia, if no then join ASUU to better our universities.”

    Sese said the 17-week old strike was being sustained by ASUU’s collective resolve to stem the downward trend government had subjected public education to.

    He said the government was “systematically destroying public education through mindless neglect and near total abandonment.”

    He also observed that some opposition politicians had capitalised on the strike to cast aspersions on the government and thereby trivialising ASUU’s genuine struggle.

    Sese said ASUU struggles had been driven by legitimate causes rather than regional, ethnic or any other political considerations.

    He said the on-going strike has presented the government a golden opportunity to make history by revitalizing public universities in Nigeria.