Rivers' militia leader, Tom, drops arms, flees
From Kelvin Ebiri (Port Harcourt)
THE wanted militia leader and head of the Niger Delta vigilance group based in Okrika, Rivers State, Ateke Tom, yesterday fled his community after he had reportedly surrendered several arms and ammunition to government authorities.
The chairman of Okrika Council Mr. I. Walter, who broke the news of Tom's exit from the war-ravaged community, said items handed over by the warlord included 37 sophisticated guns of different brands, ammunition, 20 rocket-propelled grenades and charms.
The council chairman said Tom came and voluntarily handed the guns to him in the presence of a representative of the state
commissioner of police, adding that all the items surrendered had been transferred to the police command.
Walter explained that the surrendering of the arms and Tom's eventual exit from Okrika was achieved after series of peace talks and negotiations aimed at bringing lasting peace to the crisis-ridden community.
The gang leader had been indicted by the police as one of the principal actors responsible for the orgy of violence that has engulfed almost all the riverine communities in Rivers State.
The council chairman said the notorious militia leader who had been on the police list of wanted persons since November last year, fled his native Okrika for an undisclosed location.
The Guardian learnt that he may have been spirited out of the country by forces behind him in the state.
His exit would likely usher in a new era of peace in the crisis ridden-riverine communities of the state, particularly in his native Okrika.
Tom and his group had allegedly been terrorising people, prompting several citizens of the area to desert their homes.
The militia leader whose forces had been fighting those of the former Ijaw Youth Council president, Asari Dokubo, for supremacy, reportedly got information on an imminent military incursion into his community and quickly surrendered the arms to take to flight yesterday.
