NSCDC shoots vigilance team member in Bayelsa

A team of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has allegedly shot a Neighborhood Watch member in Ikarama, Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa.

The incident occurred in the early hours of Tuesday.

NSCDC team had arrested a woman in place of her suspected husband and an argument with the local vigilance group led to the shooting.

Mr. Ben Warder, a youth leader in the area, alleged that the victim, Perekurofa Odoyibo, was shot twice in the arm and leg by the Civil Defence men whom had taken custody of the lady when the husband was not available.

“The local vigilance team noticed the NSCDC van at about 3a.m. and was trying to find out why they had to take away a woman who has children, for an offence supposedly committed by her husband.

“They shot one of the vigilance team members and sped off with the woman they had arrested.

“They came from the oilfield in Ikarama operated by Shell Petroleum Development Company, and that is why the youths mobilised and blocked the road to the Okordia manifold.

“So, this morning, the youths mobilised to protest the use of security men to molest oil communities, this is because we learnt that the arrest is linked to an oil spill incident,” the youth leader said.

Correspondent who visited the Ikarama oilfields reports that youths from the area had commenced a protest and barricaded the access road to the manifold, chanting solidarity songs.

The wife to the victim, Rebacca Odoyibo, regretted that her husband was shot and left in a pool of his own blood and had been in pains for hours. Odoyibo said the incident had thrown his entire family and dependants into confusion.

However, Mr. Orukari Udoji, whose wife, Deborah, was taken away by the NSCDC personnel, told newsmen that he was out in the forests for his timber lumbering work when they stormed his residence and took away his wife.

“I am at a loss as to what to do because I do not even have an idea of where they took her to, and as we speak, I don’t even have money to pay transport to go and search for her.

“Everybody in this community knows that I do timber work and at the time they came, I was in the bush working and they claimed that there was an oil spill in the bush near where I felled some timber,” he said.

Mr. Godwin Nwachukwu, Bayelsa Commandant of the NSCDC, told newsmen on telephone that he had received a report of the incident and immediately assigned his men to find out ‘what exactly happened’.

“As we speak, the matter is being investigated. The preliminary investigation will guide us on the next step to take,” Nwachukwu said.