The Bonny Local Government Council Secretariat was burgled while under the custody of the Nigeria Police Force, Chairman of the LGA, Anengi Claude-Wilcox has said.  

Claude-Wilcox said this on Monday, October 8, 2024 while briefing the Press after inspecting the secretariat located along Hospital Road, Bonny, Rivers State.

“As we got into the council, we discovered that the council as been vandalized and several items stolen. So we came this morning to ascertain the level of items stolen.

“We discovered that the place was in total darkness and they have stolen all the cables, electrical wires, electrical appliances, electrical wall applainces, circuit breakers, BUC pipes, BUC wires, everything.  

“All the ACs here are not working, they are just empty carcass; televisions were stolen, some documents, the doors were damaged.”

“My worry now is that this theft happened when the Nigeria Police was actually securing this area. We all know that for some months the Nigeria Police Force took possession of the council secretariats and they vacated this place yesterday morning.

Only for us to realize that within that period while they were here people were able to gain entrance into the council and carted away all of these items. The damage that was done took days; they took their time to remove the copper cables, peel them before they went away with all those appliances.   

“So, right now, we are taking inventory of the number of ACs. Just with the inspection we did now, I can tell you that over 50 air conditioners are completely condemned and just empty carcass.

“The whole of the council, you can see the secretariat, it’s comprised of two giant buildings; one is a storey building, and the other one is a two storey building with more than 150 offices.

“As I speak with you, all the offices do not have any functional AC working now because they’ve all been destroyed, either stolen completely or their cables stolen, making them useless.”

She stated that the damaged gadgets replaced while aspects of the building destroyed will be renovated, the premises will be cleared of grasses to make it conducive for workers to resume their duties.  

“So there’s a lot of work to do right now. Anyway, we’re going to start on where we can, and then we’ll see how we can replace these items and put into place all the items that were stolen.”

“But right now, we’re going to take charge by ensuring that the place is clean – you can see grasses grown all over – so that the place will be a little bit sanitized. I have asked the workers to all start work.”

“I have called the NULGE chairman to ensure that workers resume work, and business will start as usual.”

Efforts to have the reaction of the Nigeria Police Force to the claims of the Bonny LGA Chairman was yet unsuccessful as messages to the Public Relations Officer of the Rivers State Police Command, Grace Iringe-Koko was yet unanswered as at the time of this report.