Pirates attack, kill maritime workers in Bayelsa

 

By Joy Emmanuel

Yenagoa

Another boat attack by pirates has killed a boat operator, and member of the Nigerian Maritime Workers Union (NMWU) along the Brass water ways route, less than 24 hours after gunmen had attacked a boat on the same axis.
The victim of the latest attack was the former chairman of the Akassa unit of the Union simply identified as Suku.
The chairman of the state chapter of the union, Mr Lloyd Sese, who confirmed the incident said that frequent attacks by pirates had adversely affected socio-economic activities in the coastal communities in Bayelsa.
He described the death of the former union leader as regrettable and a painful loss to the labour movement in Bayelsa state and called on security agencies to intensify security patrol on the waterways as the menace was on the increase.
It was gathered that the suspected pirates attacked the passenger boat heading to Yenagoa from Akassa in Brass along Okobotuo, Lagos camp at about 6:30 yesterday morning.
Community sources who witnessed the incident from a distance said that the suspected pirates who had shot sporadically to scare the passengers left the scene without robbing the passengers after noticing that someone had been shot dead.
It will be recalled that the Bayelsa Police Commissioner had on Wednesday assured that the command had taken steps to ensure the safety of citizens following directives from the Inspector General of Police over frequent deaths from armed attacks in the past few weeks.
At least five persons have been shot dead, while a female journalist survived a shooting incident in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa state capital in the past two weeks.

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