YOUTH LEADER FINGERS GOVERNMENT IN SOBOMA’S DEATH.

Onengiye Erekosima

By Tuboye Ominim

The last has not been heard of the death of former militant leader Soboma George, who was shot dead by gunmen in the Borokiri area of Port Harcourt in Rivers State recently.

A prominent youth leader in the Niger Delta and the President of Niger Delta Non-violent movement Onegiya Erekosima has accused the Rivers State Government of having knowledge in the death of the ex militant by failing in their responsibility of providing security for its citizens and others residing in the state.

“The death of Soboma George is a great concern to me because Soboma is one of the reasons why we are enjoying peace in this state. I personally initiated the peace process to ensure that all factions loyal to Soboma, Fara, Ateke and others are settled. So the idea for government to come out and say a particular group of people killed him is not true, I have a serious problem with that statement. If you recall Soboma was killed on a day the first lady was in Port Harcourt with all the security in place.”

Erekosima also expressed worry in the way the Police have been handling the issue of the death of the former MEND member. He describes the pronouncement by the state Police Commissioner Suleiman Abba that the Police is awaiting the autopsy report on the corpse as laughable.

“Soboma was not hanged neither was he poisoned, so why wait for an autopsy, it doesn’t make sense. The Police have declared his killers wanted not only for his murder but on other charges which is further confusing. If they have been looking for those people for other crimes they should have declared them wanted long ago rather than tying his death to them.”

He further called on Rivers people to hold government accountable in the event of any break down of law and order, stressing that the current situation in the state is a clear indication that the government is trying to cause great confusion in order to achieve its aim of rigging the forth coming general elections. 

“We must not fail to say the truth at all times, the government is not far from the killing, it’s all a ploy to throw the entire state into confusion and put the people into another round of suffering, they know it was not possible for anybody or group to carry out such attack with the presence of security everywhere” he said.

The youth leader however appeals to anyone with the intention to take advantage of the murder of Soboma to unleash mayhem in the state to remain calm. “I am seriously calling everybody who in one way or the other would take advantage of the situation and revenge to remain calm and we will ensure that no reaction whatsoever is carried out because we want to handle this maturely.”

Erekosima also took a swipe at the state government for not showing so much sincerity in the amnesty granted to repentant militants. He says the government has refused to set free over fifty ex militants who are currently languishing in the Port Harcourt prison which is supposed to be part of the amnesty deal.