A group of prominent persons under the aegis of the Ogoni Leaders of Thought in Rivers State has condemned last Sunday’s shooting of Senator Magnus Abe, an act it described as an “assassination attempt on his life by the police.”
The group added that it may be compelled to request the vacation of the police from its territory.
The body, in a statement jointly signed by Justice Peter Akere (rtd), Dr. Eddie Wikina, Dr. Peter Medee and Hon. Marcus Nle Eji, after an emergency meeting held yesterday to review the Sunday incident, said Abe only narrowly escaped assassination attempt by the police.
According to the agitated people of Ogoni nationality, where the police continue to act with impunity, the Ogoni people will not hesitate to demand its vacation from its territory.
“It is important to bring to the attention of allies of acts of impunity in the state that since they cannot guarantee our safety in other territories of the state, henceforth all such persons remain persona non-grata in Ogoni territory.”
It also stated that Ogoni people would not stand by and watch a repeat of such dastardly actions that had claimed the life of the first generation leaders by the Nigerian state.
“We remind the Nigerian nation and indeed the wider world that the occupation of the Office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by a Niger Deltan, is the product of the Ogoni struggle and blood, for which we have no benefit, not even the implementation of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) report on Ogoniland.
“We join the call by the National Assembly and other well meaning Nigerians to condemn the persistent act of impunity perpetrated by the Nigerian Police in the state, and ask for the immediate removal of the group said. Commissioner of Police Mr. Joseph Mbu, from the state.
The leaders of thought demanded an immediate investigation into the events leading to the “near assassination” of Senator Abe.
Source: ThisDay
