- Family of slain boat driver says deceased not criminal
Emmanuel Addeh in Yenagoa
Soldiers attached to the Joint Task Force, Operation Delta Safe, tuesday said at least two suspected militants were killed during a shootout near Obama Flow Station, in Nembe Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.
The security forces fighting militancy and other criminalities in the Niger Delta region said they raided the militant camp after they were tipped-off by a vigilance group and local residents in the area.
One of those involved in the encounter, the military said, was a “notorious” militant leader, identified simply as Labista, who it said had been in the watch list of security operatives for crimes ranging from kidnapping to the murder of soldiers in the creeks.
A statement by Lt Col Olaolu Daudu, Coordinator of the Joint Media Campaign Centre in Igbogene, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, disclosed that the suspects dived into the river , following the exchange of gunfire and their bodies were later seen floating on top of the waters in the creeks.
“One of the suspects, a notorious leader of criminals, popularly known as Labista who is on security agencies watch list, had at various times engaged in high profile kidnapping, killing of security personnel in ambush, piracy, robbery and other criminal activities.
“Labista and his cohorts dived into the river in a bid to escape while the raid was ongoing and were engaged by own troops. At the end of the operation, the bodies of two notorious criminals were seen floating on the water. They have been deposited at the government morgue,” Daudu said.
He added that two single-barrel guns, cutlasses and four speed boats were recovered from the suspected criminals and assured of the JTF’s commitment to ridding the region of those he said were in the habit of breaching critical infrastructure in the oil-rich area.
But just as the soldiers were celebrating their latest breakthrough, the family of a boat driver who was killed in a shooting by suspected operatives of the JTF yesterday demanded justice for their son, insisting that the deceased was not a criminal.
Mr. Boluozimo Tulagha, 39, died last week from three gunshots allegedly fired by soldiers at the waterfront of Polaku community in Yenagoa.
While expressing anger over the death of the man, the family noted that the deceased had plied his trade in Polaku and environs for more than seven years before he was shot dead.
However, some community sources in the know claimed that the deceased Boluozimo was contracted by a gang of hoodlums to help them ferry vegetables from Polaku to Odi in Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government, unknown to him that some weapons were concealed therein.
The soldiers attached to the JTF, acting on a tip-off, were said to have laid an ambush for the boat, opened fire and killed the boat driver.
During a protest in Yenagoa, father of the dead boat operator, Rev. E.D. Tulagha, a former school Principal, now a cleric, claimed that his son was neither armed nor was he a criminal.
‘’Boluozimo went into the boat in order to warm the engine. The security men appeared with guns and shot Boluozimo’s leg.
‘’He then shouted with lifted hands and said he was only a driver; who didn’t know anything about the rest. He pleaded that they should not kill him.
‘’Then the operatives lodged another gunshot on the side of his shoulder. He was still shouting and crying, ‘Don’t kill me, I am ignorant of anything they are doing.’
‘’The security operatives, in the process gave the third gunshot into his bowels and Boluozimo died right in the spot without mercy,” the octogenarian father of the deceased said. A younger brother of the deceased, Dr. Charles Tulagha, described the killing of Boluozimo as callous and wicked.
Charles, a medical doctor at the Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa, said, ‘’we want to clear the air that Boluozimo was a cultist or militant. The Boluozimo that I know as a brother was far from all the allegations levelled against him.
‘’He was tagged militant by the security agents. My brother was just a driver, he was not a militant or a criminal. He had been doing the business for over seven years. That was his business.
“He did not even drink, he did not smoke, he was innocent . I believe that killing him after he raised his hand to prove his innocence was preposterous, callous and unthinkable of the security agents. ‘’We are appealing for justice to be done. We want the government to bring the perpetrators to justice’’, he said
Reacting, Lt Col Daudu said the incident was a case of illegal arms dealing, adding that two persons had been arrested in connection with the matter.
‘’We have two of them in our net. So, I wouldn’t know what they were protesting for, neither would I want to respond to their protest because I see it as an attempt to cause diversion and distraction.
“These are very serious security matters which as investigations are ongoing, we may not want to divulge too much so that it will not jeopardise the ongoing investigation.
‘’However, I want to believe that with the facts on ground, and what they (family) themselves have stated, they are heavily indicted. This matter is a highly sensitive security issue that cannot be handled in any lackadaisical manner”, the JMCC Coordinator said.
