Some gunmen on Friday attacked Ogila-ama community in the Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.
It was gathered that the armed men stormed the coastal community in three speed boats and shot sporadically before setting some buildings on fire.
The incident was said to have caused panic and confusion as the residents of Ogila-ama fled into the bush.
Reports quoted a native of the community, Bolouikie Ogoro, as saying that he received phone calls from his sister and some others informing him of the armed invasion.
According to him, the armed arsonists operated in three speed boats and fired gunshots indiscriminately to ward off any resistance before going for the targeted houses that they razed down.
It could not be immediately ascertained if any life was lost even as no group had claimed responsibility for the incident as of the time of filing this report.
The spokesman for the Bayelsa State Police Command, Asinim Butswat, said the Commissioner of Police, Mike Okoli, “has dispatched detectives to ascertain what happened in the community.”
The attack on Ogila-ama is the latest of such community invasions by gunmen as Peremabiri, also in Southern Ijaw LGA, was attacked twice on December 25, 2020, and January 3, 2021, with several residential houses destroyed, including that of a former militant leader, Eris Paul, alias ‘General’ Ogunboss.
Governor Douye Diri had on January 6 set up two bi-partisan peace and security committees to probe the remote and immediate causes of recent attacks by armed men on Southern Ijaw’s Peremabiri and Egbema-Angalabiri community in Ekeremor LGA.
Credit: Punch