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New Page 24
Rivers probes killing of 30 villagers
TONY ITA ETIM,
Port Harcourt
WORRIED by
last Sunday�s attack on Ataba community by gunmen, in which 30 persons were
reportedly killed, Rivers State Government is to raise a high powered judicial
enquiry into the incident.
Besides, the government which promised to
descend heavily on the culprits, said it has ordered the state police command to
conduct a thorough investigation into the matter and turn in its report.
Gunmen, suspected to be mercenaries, about
3.00 am invaded the community, following a chieftaincy dispute in the town,
killing, maiming, raping women and destroying several houses.
Bodies of some of the victims were
reportedly dumped into the nearby Atlantic Ocean.
But speaking with Daily Champion
yesterday in Port Harcourt, Commissioner for Information, Mr. Magnus Ngei Abe,
who condemned the incident, said government would not take the matter lightly.
Abe condemned the use of violence to
pursue any aim, adding that the police have been directed to investigate the
matter thoroughly.
He said the judicial panel which will be
announced in a few days time will look into the immediate and remote causes of
the crisis and how to resolve them.
According to him, the Ataba crisis has
been a lingering chieftaincy dispute for years and had polarised the community
into two groups, namely Nigerians and
Biafrans.
The crisis, Abe observed, assumed a more
fearful proportion last Sunday with an attack on the community where lives and
property were destroyed.
The commissioner frowned at the use of
violence to settle minor communal disputes and disagreements, describing it as
devilish and barbaric.
He wondered why people living in the same
community would descend so low as to attack one another and appealed to
communities in the state to emulate Opobo kingdom where their kingship dispute
lasted almost 25 years without destruction, deaths or any form of violence.
Abe absolved the state government of the
charge of foot dragging in the crisis, arguing that every community should have
an internal mechanism to resolve conflicts as anything done by an outsider may
not endure.
On the alleged involvement of certain
personalities in government in the crisis, Abe said there is no person in
government who is above the law as government is for everybody.
Abe said it is unhealthy for people to
accuse government of taking sides in such matters that affected lives as
government is determined to fish out the culprits, no matter how highly placed
and punish them.
He advised indigenes of the area with
information and allegations to go to the police or wait for the setting up of
the judicial panel and testify.
State Commissioner of Police, Mr.
Sylvester Araba had confirmed that seven persons were killed and six are still
missing, in the attack, even as sources in Ataba said at least 30 were killed.
Araba said three persons are being quizzed
at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) at the state police
headquarters, Moscow Road, Port Harcourt.
Meanwhile, six victims of the incident are
in the casualty department of the University of Port Harcourt Teaching (UPTH).
Among them are a five-year-old boy whose
parents and sister were reportedly killed during the attack, two adults and
three other children.
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