- Express Fear To Resume Business
Cargo transporters at the Bonny/Bille/Nembe waterfront in Port Harcourt say the Defence Headquarters lied when it alleged that the local cargo boat, popularly called ‘Cotonou Boat’, that one of its combat helicopters shot at was carrying “illegally refined oil products”.
They equally expressed fear of resuming their business due to fears that they could be shot at by the Military and labeled illegal oil bunkerers.
One of them, a manager of one of the local cargo boats plying the Port Harcourt-Bonny sea route at the Bonny/Bille/Nembe jetty, Isaiah Emmanuel said this in an interview with Kristina Reports on Monday, August 30, 2021 in Port Harcourt.
“As per the statement of the Military. It is just a false statement, that’s just the truth; it’s just a false statement.”
“On that particular day, that the incident happened, the chopper that shot my men and the boat, we were not conveying anything like condensate, related to bunkering. We don’t do such business.”
He asserting that the local cargo handlers only deal with food items, building materials, household items, and other consumables and not in petroleum products.
“You can see it’s just bags, coffee, crates of eggs, nothing that’s related to all those kind of business. It’s just bag of beans, bags of rice, groundnut, coffee and other perishable items, consumable goods, those are the things we go with.”
“Honestly, it’s just false and based on the picture you have there, it’s just the boat, nothing much. You can see the men in it. You can see the bags of rice, beans and crates of eggs and sugar cane. Do they use it for condensate? No, that’s just false information, the truth is that they shot at our men and that’s all.”
He lamented that the incident was a threat to both their businesses and the lives of the operators, stressing that the workers were now afraid for their lives and were now reluctant to resume work.
“We are afraid because you can’t tell, everybody is shocked with what happened. This first experience actually threatened the life of people; even the drivers and the workers, you can see, nobody wants to work.
“You can see the boys, the boys are running away because they don’t want to play with their life.”
This is coming days after a combat helicopter belonging to the Nigerian Military opened fire on unarmed civilians traveling in a local cargo boat, popularly known as ‘Cotonou Boat’, along the Bonny River, wherein five Nigerians almost lost their lives.
Two persons who were injured in the attack, which occurred close to Dawes Island (Dutch Island) in Okrika LGA at about 1300 hours on Thursday, August 26, 2021, were taken to a hospital in Okrika where they received medical treatment.
Director of Defence Information, Major Gen. Benjamin Sawyerr, in a midnight statement on Sunday, August 29, 2021 admitted that it was a combat helicopter belonging to the Joint Task Force Operation Delta Safe (OPDS) that carried out the attack, claiming that the said boat was conveying “illegally refined oil products”.
Findings by Kristina Reports, however, contradict the claims by the Defence Headquarters.
God please help our military to direct their guns to the right place