Investigation: How Amaechi and Wike fuel beheadings in Rivers state Read more


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Communities have witnessed a hike in the price of wooden caskets Different cultist groups gang rape, murder and rob residents of Omoku community The Nigerian police are attempting to halt the violence but can only operate with the only resources provided for them Omoku community is responsible for over 20% of Nigeria’s
total oil output with hundreds of oil wells exploited by Italian oil giant, Agip Immediately visible as one comes to Omoku town through Ndoni, in Ogba/Ndoni/Egbema local government area (ONELGA), Rivers state, are hurriedly put-together wooden caskets being traded. Residents say this trade is now a business thriving like no other in many communities in the oil-rich state. To understand the increase in sales of caskets in Omoku for instance, 28 people including a family of five, a father and his children, were massacred on March 12, at about 9pm. Some of the victims were beheaded Since relatives, fortunate to be alive themselves, must nevertheless bury their dead, Omoku and its neighbouring crisis-engulfed communities have witnessed the economic principles of demand and supply operating. The demand for caskets has hit unprecedented levels, consequently forcing an increase in price for quickly constructed wooden caskets, with the bereaved paying between N15-N20,000. READ ALSO: Investigation: How Coaches Sexually Abuse Female Footballers While the burial business thrives in Omoku due to an increase in deaths of both old and young, with the massacre of entire families commonplace, the same cannot be said of other businesses. The social life of the people is completely gone as a result of the wanton killings. Chief Chris Nwalinsor, killed with four members of his family Chief Chris Nwalinsor, killed with four members of his family Although there are several checkpoints on the road to Omoku, some residents said that security has not really improved because security personnel and their checkpoints are only on one major road, the Ahoada/Omoku/Ndoni road, where policemen unfortunately exhort motorists and motorcyclists with the slogan ‘pay us our tithe’, while crimes like kidnapping, rape, theft and murder still rage unabated inside these communities. Investigation also revealed that although the crime scene, 19, Umimegi Street, off Sambo Street, where the March 12 massacre took place, is very close to the checkpoint of the Joint Military Taskforce (JTF), the killer gang of six members maintained sporadic shooting for over an hour without any response from either the police or the soldiers. At the moment, in many of these communities pockets of checkpoints manned by security agents, especially soldiers, abound during the day with motorcyclists alighting once at these checkpoints while passengers walk through before continuing their journeys. READ ALSO: Investigation: How Abuja as a model city is failing But the communities are still tense following renewed kidnapping, with no social life and evening business vanished completely. In Omoku for instance, which happens to be the commercial hub of the region, and neighbouring communities, movement of motorcycles is not allowed once it is 5pm and vehicles also become fewer on the road, with stranded commuters desperate to leave the road for fear of violence. Once it is 6pm, streets are completely empty in the deserted city as residents lock themselves in for fear of attacks; fear well founded on experience of brutal killings, rapes and kidnappings. Some residents, particularly non-indigenes, have since sold their houses and land and left not just these communities, but Rivers state.


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