* There Was No Sea Pirates’ Attack on Bonny River – Navy, Police

The Nigerian Navy and the Nigeria Police have dismissed rumours that there was an attack by sea pirates along the Bonny-Port Harcourt sea route yesterday, saying it was a disagreement between the boat pilot and a passenger. 

Corroborating this position, Chairman of the Boat Pilots’ Union in Bonny, Capt. Godswill Jumbo also debunked any insinuation that there was an attack by sea pirates.

But narrating to Kristina Reports what transpired yesterday, the boat pilot, Nelson Happy said a passenger, identified as Emmanuel Amos, wanted him to drop him off at a fishing port suspected to be a camp where sea pirates always come from to attack boats along the Bonny-Port Harcourt sea route but he refused.

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He refusal angered the man who attempted to hijack the boat from him by dragging the engine to turn the boat to his destination but another boat heading to Port Harcourt from Bonny came to their rescue by alerting naval gunboats close by.

In a telephone chat with Kristina Reports, Commanding Officer of the Nigerian Navy Forward Operating Base (FOB), Bonny, Commodore Kola Oguntuga said the suspected was arrested by his men and handed over to the Marine Police in Bonny.

The Officer-in-charge of the marine component of the Nigeria Police in Bonny, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Solomon Adeniyi confirmed to Kristina Reports that the suspected was taken into custody by his men after being handed over by the Nigerian Navy personnel.

According to him, the suspect was undergoing interrogation and further investigation would be conducted which will determine the next course of action on what to do with him.

Cdre Oguntuga explained that “it was only a case of a disagreement between a passenger and the boat pilot which turned violent and almost capsized the speedboat they were traveling in from Port Harcourt to Bonny Island.”  

“It was not sea pirates. It was a passenger that wanted to go to Dutch Island area but the driver insisted that he will not stop till he gets to Bonny. So, the passenger was struggling with the driver.”

He disclosed that the situation was eventually resolved and the culprit handed over to the Marine Police.

“The boat was sinking already by the time my men got to them. We now had to recover the passengers from the boat that was sinking. And brought them aboard the gunboat and brought them to our own jetty. I now told them to carry the man and hand him over to the marine police. And there were children in the boat”.

On his part, DSP Adeniyi said “The navy brought a man to my office yesterday that he was fighting with a boat driver at the sea, which action portends a grave danger to the lives of other passengers. It is endangering of lives on the sea. They now brought him to me.”

“When we now interrogated him, the man in question told us that he boarded a boat from Port Harcourt with his wife who was present yesterday and his younger brother. He said he told the driver before they departed Port Harcourt that they are not coming to Bonny that they want to drop at a village after Ogboloba here, that village after Yellow Platform, that that is where they are going, they are going to the fishing camp there.”

“Now, when they reached that place the driver refused to stop and then the gentleman in question, instead of him to cooperate with the driver, due to his refusal to stop, he now picked a fight with the driver. It was when they were quarrelling and fighting in the boat that the naval personnel were passing by. They now arrested them and brought him to the station. That is the situation. It is not a sea pirate attack. The man in question is not a sea pirate.”

“It is just that the driver – as we have told them that on no account should they stop along the sea route. If you are coming to Bonny, you come Bonny direct, no need branching off at those fishing ports because of the activities of these hoodlums.”

The Boat drivers’ Chairman, Capt. Jumbo, who is also a Merchant Navy officer, praised the gallantry of the boat pilot and the efforts of the Nigerian Navy, noting that had the pilot agreed to go there and the Navy not arrived the scene, the outcome would have been scary.

He advised his colleagues and other maritime operators to emulate the courage and patriotism of Nelson Happy and refuse to involve themselves in any action that could jeopardize the lives of their passengers, while thanking the Commanding Officer, officers and men of the Forward Operating Base (FOB), Nigerian Navy, Bonny, for rising to the occasion and rescuing the passengers, thus averting what would have become an unfortunate situation.    

The boat pilot, Nelson Happy, who hails from Lobia in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State told Kristina Reports that “It was yesterday I loaded from Port Harcourt with 20 passengers on board, nobody told me anything about dropping half way. But on my way coming near Yellow Platform, we passed one fishing port before the platform. They call that fishing port Gboloba and that place is a dangerous place from where those bad boys normally come out and attack boats.

“There was never a day when any of our boats offloaded passengers at that fishing port. But on reaching there this boy stood up from his bench and said I should drop him there. I said, why? Did you tell me anything? He insisted I must drop him there. I said, ‘No, I can’t go there. Except you drop at Peterside. I can’t go there with 20 passengers. In case anything happens what will you say?’

“Before I know it this guy left his seat at the front bench in the midst of the passengers and came to me while I was in motion driving and dragged me, dragged the engine, turned the boat with force. The boat nearly capsized and as I am talking to you it was only God that saved us. The passengers were crying including the children”.

“Luckily for us there was a boat going from Bonny to Port Harcourt near the place of the incident. The boat driver now came to us. This very boy was still making comments that whoever it is that I want to call I should call, you see? So, I now asked the rescue boat driver that he should help me call gunboat. The guy now said there was a gunboat that was very close to us but because of the Harmattan we didn’t see it.”

“So, the driver now went with his boat to call the gunboat and they now came with more than two gunboats. Immediately this boy saw the gunboat he jumped out of my boat into the river and started swimming across to that very fishing port. As he saw the navy people, he was swimming. So, they now went and carried him. They then took all of us to navy base, they asked the passengers what happened and took their statements before I reached there. The navy now used their own luxurious bus and carried them. And then I carried their luggage in my boat to beach.”

Some of the passengers who spoke to Kristina Reports praised the courage of the boat pilot, Nelson Happy, saying if all boat pilots were like him, the safety of passengers would be guaranteed, urging the relevant authorities to do something to honour the gallantry displayed by him, while also thanking the Nigerian Navy for coming to their rescue.