A dusk-to-dawn curfew has been imposed on Kokori, a small commercial town in Ethiope East Local Government Area of Delta State, owing to the arrest of Kelvin Oniara, a notorious kidnapper, and the fear that his gang men may unleash more terror on the community.
The Kokori community has been advised to stay indoors most of the time, while the special combing of the area by the security operatives is on, Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan said.
Uduaghan, who announced the restriction cautiously yesterday evening without actually using the frightening term “curfew”, said this was part of the measures taken to enable security operatives carry out a thorough sanitisation of the area.
He said the decision was taken at an emergency state security meeting held late yesterday afternoon at the Government House Annexe Warri, involving the Army, the Police and the Department of State Security (DSS) as well as other local agencies.
The curfew, which is, however, relaxed in other parts of Ethiope East Local Government Area, became necessary due to unlawful reactions from a handful of criminal elements in the community following the arrest of Oniara, who hails from the town.
The suspect was arrested in a hotel in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital on Tuesday morning, following intense manhunt for the man who, about a week ago, issued a 60-day ultimatum to the federal government to recognise the Urhobo nation in the government at the centre or face attacks. It was probably a ploy to draw support from those genuinely demanding federal government’s presence in the state.
The governor said the suspect is believed to have been the brain behind several “high-profile kidnap cases and not-so-high-profile kidnap and armed robbery cases in Delta State and at least five other states.”
However, Uduaghan explained that security calculations to checkmate possible reprisals by a bunch of criminal elements loyal to the notorious suspect still holed up in the area and that it is that consideration that led to the heavy deployment military personnel, policemen and other security operatives since Wednesday morning.
He noted that the current special security operation in the area is aimed at ridding the area of dangerous criminals and making it a safe habitation for law-abiding citizens enjoys the “full support of my government, and anyone who has a case to answer would be arrested and interrogated by them.”
The governor, who cautioned people, and especially the media, against “sensationalising the necessary security operation currently going on in the area, debunked allegations that about a dozen persons have been killed in the area since yesterday.
He said only one fatality has been confirmed by security reports reaching him, saying it occurred when a group of Kokori youths tried to prevent a convoy of security personnel from entering the town by barricading the road into the place, causing the soldiers to shoot.
“This is very sensitive case being handled by our security operatives”, Uduaghan noted, adding: “It was capable of consuming the whole community, because of the awkwardness of the situation, you could almost say the whole community was guilty.”
“We must say with a lot of sadness that he had a lot of strong support from the Kokori community. In the recent propaganda photos by the arrested Kelvin, circulated by the Press and in the internet, the people of the community appeared to have connived. Instead of dancing behind children their children that have just graduated, the horrible scene was women were dancing behind the children carrying guns. I can’t imagine that kind of psychology….”
He however agreed that “some people in the community have moved out on their own. So, it is more of a ghost town than a community under siege of security operatives”.
“One person was confirmed dead yesterday (Wednesday), not even up to four persons have been fatally wounded not to talk to the large figure of 20 dead being speculated in certain quarters”, Uduaghan said.
“There is no ongoing shoot-out. The security operations are based on intelligence, because some areas are more prone to criminal activities.
