It has been revealed that the two dead victims of the Dema Abbey attack were flogged with paddles on the head to their gruesome deaths while several other occupants of the attacked boats were pushed into the water to drown.

This is happening precisely seven days short of four months since the Banigo 5 saga which has remained unresolved. Thompson Allison, Daniel Hart, Sunny Hart, Dagogo Jackmay and Theophilus Ibiama were whisked away from a funeral at Banigo Community on September 12, 2020 and were yet to be freed by their abductors.   

Sources told Kristina Reports that the incidents that claimed the lives of the two victims with some passengers yet to be accounted for happened at about 20:00 hours on Tuesday, January 5, 2021 at the intersection between Dan-Jumbo, Banigo and Dema Abbey while a second happened at the intersection where the creek linking Polokiri Arugbana-Ama and Otokolomabie to the main river to Bonny Town.

A source, who pleaded anonymity, told Kristina Reports that the hoodlums arrived the Dema Abbey T-junction at about 7.45PM in a speedboat with a 75 horsepower outboard engine to intercept the first speedboat powered by a 115 horsepower engine.

The boat pilot, a native of Andoni (name withheld) was said to have stopped the boat, saying that the engine picked up debris, and was in reverse mode trying to remove the debris when the oncoming criminals caught up with them.

Some of the passengers revealed that even after sighting the approach of the hoodlums he kept delaying until the pirates accosted them and began attacking them.

Some of the passengers were said to have dived into the river out of fear while the hoodlums began hitting MacDonald Ibifubara Banigo and Kingsley Dienye Allison with their paddles on the head.

For Kingsley Dienye, a source said he was severely dealt with apparently in scuffle with them before his death.

“They really dealt with him, from what we saw on his body, they didn’t only use paddle, they stabbed him several times, macheted him and even used broken bottles.”

“We suspect he might know one or more of them, probably that is why they dealt with him that way. He is a very popular person and knows a lot of people, maybe he recognized them and they decide to deal with him.”

Kristina Reports could not ascertain the reason of their anger against the passengers. So far, the two corpses have been recovered and brought to Bonny Island.  

Kristina Reports also learnt from a reliable source that due to an engine failure the hoodlums could not leave until the second boat approached from the Polokiri axis about 40 minutes later and were also attacked by them.

Our source disclosed that after robbing their victims the hoodlums drove to Bonny to discharge their spoils.

The source hinted Kristina Reports that “it is likely they went to Coconut Estate waterside or Macaulay creek to offload their loot,” stressing that “obviously, they had local support from people who are part of them”.  

Estimated time for the attack has been put at about an hour before security operatives drawn from the Marine Police and the Nigerian Navy responded and secured the area while supervising the rescue operation to save the almost drowning victims.

Sources say the rescued passengers were then taken that night to Polokiri and later evacuated to Bonny.  

As at the time of this report, aside the two casualties, an unconfirmed number of persons were still missing while some of the rescued passengers have been brought back to Bonny with some of the injured receiving medical attention at undisclosed medical facilities in the town.

An official, who preferred anonymity as he was not authorized to speak on the matter, told Kristina Reports that distress calls from some of the nearby communities to the local government Chairman and the joint task force stationed at a houseboat close to Otokolomabie set off the string of responses that saved the night and reduced the casualty rate.   

One of the casualties, Macdonald Ibifubara Banigo was a former President of the National Union of Bonny Students, Ken Saro Wiwa Polytechnic Chapter. Popularly known as Junior, the late Banigo was described by some of his friends on Facebook as “easygoing”, “affable”, “kind”, and “compassionate”. He was also said to have reinvigorated the Ken Poly chapter of NUBS during his time as President there.

Confirming the incident to Kristina Reports, Officer-in-Charge of the Marine Division of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), Bonny, DSP Solomon Adeniyi said his men alongside officers and ratings of the Nigerian Navy responded to the distress calls and secured the victims and later escorted them to Bonny.

DSP Adeniyi further said that his men and the Navy were still securing the general area where both incidents took place, while also in search of the hoodlums, adding that one of the boat pilots has been taken into custody and he has been assisting with the investigation.

A top security source has, however, faulted the boat pilots and their passengers for violating the extant navigation protocols which prohibits night sailing, pointing out that “they actually exposed themselves to needless danger. Even after they have been barred not to travel after 6pm, they had to sail by that time”.