Isaac

Okafor Ofiebor/Port Harcourt

It took the timely intervention of officers and men of the Rivers State Police Command to quell the spontaneous eruption of violence in Alode, in Eleme local government area of Rivers state on Sunday, a sequel to the assassination of two persons including Isaac Obe, a former President of Eleme Youth on Saturday.

Isaac Obe was shot dead at about 7 pm on Saturday by assailants suspected to be rampaging cultists, who pumped bullets into his chest region in his house on Saturday evening shortly after returning from an event. The late Isaac Obe was an active member of the All Progressive Congress and a loyalist of Both Mr Chibuike  Amaechi and Senator Magnus Abe.

Rivers state Police commissioner, Zaki Ahmed who confirmed the incident through the  Command’s Public Relations Officer, Nnamdi Omoni,  said the Police swung into action when it got the information of the assassination but could not apprehend the culprits as fled before help could come from the Police.

The Police Command also said it had to contend with a spiral effect of the killing of the youth leader who was also a stalwart of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in the State.

The Rivers CP, Zaki Ahmed, has ordered the homicide squad of the command to commence comprehensive inquest into the killing already suspected to be linked to cultists but cautioned against reprisal attacks.

“Two wrongs cannot make a right. If the youths launch reprisal attacks against those perceived to be Masterminds it will counterproductive. These senseless killings should stop in the state because we will continue to lose our lives and it will not pay us any good. Of course, there are dire consequences of killing another person.

“We are doing all we can to bring the perpetrators to justice”.

The assassins were said to have watched him breathe his last after pumping several bullets into his chest region.

In his reaction, the member representing Eleme Constituency in the Rivers State House of Assembly, Hon. Josiah Olu, has condemned the gruesome murder of the Youth president and the unnecessary destruction of properties in parts of Eleme .

The lawmaker described the murder and inhuman, and barbaric and urged the security agencies to ensure that the perpetrators and their sponsors are punished.

In a press statement in Port Harcourt, signed by his office, the lawmaker said that the killing of Mr Isaac Obe posed a significant danger to the effort to restore peace to the communities in Eleme and said the act was perpetrated by those intent on constituting road blocks against peace and progress in Eleme.

He said that all efforts must be made to fish out all those remotely and actively involved in the murder and bring them to justice so as to send the message that such criminal acts are not parts of what Eleme is known for.

“We demand added efforts on the parts of the security agencies to ensure that all those directly and remotely involved in the killing of Mr. Obe are arrested and brought to justice. I will use every element within my reach to manage and ensure that these heinous crime does not go unpunished,” he said.

The lawmaker also described the late Isaac Obe as a dutiful and highly effective young man who spent a greater part of his life in the service to humanity and his people.

He commiserated with the family of the deceased and urged them not to despair but to put their trust in God as their main comforter and provider.

On his part, Alomate Ollor, the Caretaker Committee Chairman of Eleme local government council condemned the unwarranted killing of the youth leader and cautioned against reprisal attacks.

“I totally condemned the killing of one of our great sons, comrade Isaac Obe as an ungodly act who is the immediate past President of Eleme Youths Council, and I equally condemn the burning of houses and promise that we will work with security agencies to bring to book those who carried out the dastardly act”.