Gunmen abduct 20 passengers travelling on Nigerian waterways

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Gunmen suspected to be pirates have abducted 20 passengers who were travelling in a boat from Oron in Akwa Ibom State to Cross River State, Nigeria’s south-south.

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Passengers to both states now prefer to travel by water because the Calabar-Itu Federal Highway is dilapidated.

The abduction happened on 18 April, seven days ago.

According to the manifest seen by our reporter, the boat is owned by a private transport company called Akwa Cross Boat Management Ltd.

Timfon John, the police spokesperson in Akwa Ibom, confirmed the incident to PREMIUM TIMES on Friday.

“It happened in Calabar, not Akwa Ibom,” Ms John, a deputy superintendent of police, said.

She, however, said the police in Akwa Ibom were collaborating with their counterparts in Cross River to ensure the victims were released unhurt.

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But the police spokesperson in Cross River, Irene Ugbo, said no such incident happened in Cross River. “It’s not true. It’s very false,” she told our reporter Friday morning.

When our reporter informed Ms Ugbo, a superintendent of police, that the police in Akwa Ibom said the abduction of the 20 passengers happened in Cross River, she still insisted it was false.

“Not in Cross River. That’s not true,” she said.

Akwa Ibom and Cross River governments have yet to speak about the incident.

Pirates disrupting lives, businesses in Akwa Ibom and Cross River

The operations of pirates along the Oron-Calabar waterways have remained a threat to passengers’ travel and businesses between Akwa Ibom and Cross River.

A police inspector in Akwa Ibom was declared missing last January after a shootout between police operatives and some pirates dressed in military camouflage along the Oron-Calabar waterways. Two operatives were injured in the incident, according to the police.

“The assailants, numbering about 24 and operating in three speedboats, attempted to overpower our officers in a gun duel. Our officers put up a brave fight but sustained losses,” Ms John, the police spokesperson in Akwa Ibom, said, in January, of the incident.

A 2023 report by Punch newspaper detailed how the operations of pirates have crippled businesses in the coastal communities in Akwa Ibom.

“Fishing is our main occupation and the only means of our livelihood. Regrettably, we are no longer safe at Sea. I have lost two outboard engines to the activities of Sea pirates, and each of these engines cost over N3 million,” the paper quoted a boat owner in the Ibaka community, Effiong Etim.

“We have tried ourselves, and our youths have also tried, but the more we try, the more the pirates attack us. This is our predicament.

“I am using this medium to appeal once again to the security agencies to sustain their operation at sea to curb these attacks.”

The operations of pirates have contributed to the soaring prices of food items like crayfish in Akwa Ibom, PREMIUM TIMES learnt.

Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State, last year, appealed to the authorities of the Nigerian Army to establish a battalion in the Oron axis of the state to curb the increasing rates of kidnapping in the area.

“Most kidnappings happen and they go through the waters,” Mr Eno told a delegation from the army, led by the Chief of Army Staff, Taoreed Lagbaja, which visited him in Government House Uyo in August 2024.

“So, we would be able to work with you if you give us the approval to site another battalion around Oron axis, it would do us a great favour,” the governor added.

Mr Lagbaja, a lieutenant-general, and the army were in Akwa Ibom for the combined second and third quarters of the Chief of Army Staff Conference.

Insecurity in Oron axis

Mr Eno’s “Oron axis” referred to the five local government areas of Oron, Mbo, Okobo, Udung Uko, and Urue Offong/ Uruko in Akwa Ibom.

Mainly coastal, the five local governments have become a hotbed for kidnappers in the recent past, which is why Mr Eno is seeking an army battalion to tackle it.

Mr Eno’s request came months after the House of Representatives mandated Mr Taoreed to establish a military formation in Oron to tackle the soaring kidnappings and killings in the area.

The House gave the directive following a motion by Martins Esin, the Oron Federal Constituency lawmaker.

Mr Esin, who is the chairperson of the House Committee on Youth Development, blamed kidnappings, piracy, armed robbery and wanton killings in the area on the lack of adequate security agencies in the area, Punch newspaper reported.

PREMIUM TIMES has reported some high-profile abductions in the Oron axis of the state since Mr Eno became governor.

Last year, gunmen abducted eight people, including a naval operative at Classic Point Hotel, a relaxation spot in Ibaka, Mbo local government area of the state.

Also, last year, gunmen abducted Okon Abang, the paramount ruler of Mbo Local Government Area of the state. The gunmen invaded the royal father’s palace at Ebughu at night and abducted him.

A week before the traditional ruler was abducted, the wife of Asuquo Okon, a prominent politician in the area, was kidnapped in the Oron Local Government Area.

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Also, in the same area, John Esu, a medical doctor, was abducted, prompting the Nigeria Medical Association in the state to direct its members to withdraw their services from both private and public hospitals in the state.

A High Court judge, Joy Unwana, was kidnapped in 2023, and her security guard was shot dead while they were returning to Uyo from Oron, where she had a court session.