Armed Ijaw youths from Ogbe-Ijoh community in Warri South West local government area of Delta State on Saturday evening attacked a patrol team of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), carting away two rifles belonging to the service and leaving one immigration officer wounded.
SaharaReporters reliably learned that the gunmen, numbering about 10, also attacked operatives of the Marine Police team which rushed to the scene to rescue the immigration officers.
In the 30-minute assault, which took place in the creeks of Fegenegbene community heading towards Warri Main Market, the waylaying gunmen chanted Ijaw war songs and shot sporadically into the air.
Narrating the incident to a SaharaReporters correspondent, a police officer said but for the police swift intervention of the police, three operatives of the Nigeria Immigration Service and a civilian speedboat pilot would have been abducted by the heavily armed gunmen.
"The Saturday attack by the armed Ijaw youths is a result of the recent rivalry over the lingering disputed land boundary between the Aladja community in Udu Council and Ogbe-Ijoh community in Warri South West Council areas of the state where several persons have lost their lives and properties," the police officer said.
Speaking with SaharaReporters, one of the attacked Nigeria Immigration Service officers, who requested anonymity, confirmed the attack, saying that it took the intervention of God and the Marine Police to save their lives.
“At about 6:40 pm our patrol team was heading towards Warri Main Market when armed Ijaw youths shot sporadically on our boat. They demanded that we follow them after disarming us. They accused us that we were Urhobo people and threatened to kill us. As we were arguing, one of the youths confirmed that our pilot (boat driver) is an Urhobo boy.
"They wanted to kill our pilot but him, lucky enough he jumped into the water. Our team leader, an Assistant Superintendent of NIS, was hit with the butt of the gun by the armed Ijaw youths. They also engaged operatives of the Marine Police. One of them was shot in his hand before they fled.”
Contacted on the incident, the spokesperson of the Delta State Command of NIS, Assistant Superintendent Joy Obikwe, denied knowledge of the incident and promised to reach our correspondent back in 10 minutes but she neither did, nor answered several calls to her phone thereafter.
