TONY JOHN, Port Harcourt
The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) has expressed outrage and condemned in strong terms the attempted assassination of an Ogoni member of the Interim Management Committee of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC-IMC), Caroline Nagbo.
The incident was reported to have taken place in Ozuoba, Port Harcourt, in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State, last Tuesday, at about 12.30 pm.
Confirmed information available to MOSOP indicated that she was trailed to a compound in Ozuoba, where she went for a visit.
MOSOP noted: “Realizing that her life was in danger, Evang. Nagbo sent a distress call to the Rivers State Commissioner of Police, the DSS and the police unit attached to the NDDC, whose timely and swift intervention prevented the assassins from carrying out their evil act.
Sunday Sun gathered that when the armed men sighted the security operatives, they escaped in a waiting Toyota Corolla vehicle.
The pan-Ogoni group, in a statement by its Secretary-General, Bari-ara Kpalap, commended the Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Joseph Mukan, and other security agencies for their swift response to Nagbo’s distress call.
MOSOP also called on security agencies to track down the persons behind the heinous operation to eliminate the NDDC-IMC member.
Kpalap stated: “We commend the Commissioner of Police, DSS and the police unit attached to the NDDC for their prompt response.
“However, we would entreat the security agencies to leave no stone unturned in unraveling the circumstances surrounding the incident with a view to apprehending and prosecuting the perpetrators and their sponsors.
“While we do not know what may have informed the attempt on her life, we maintain no one has the right to deny Evang. Nagbo her inalienable right to life. Facts abound that there are civilized channels of seeking redress in the case of wrong doing rather than the resort to violence.
“We, therefore, warn the perpetrators to stop forthwith. We also call on the security agencies to provide adequate security for NDDC-IMC Ogoni member, Evangelist Caroline Nagbo”, MOSOP demanded.