Youths in Bonny have expressed their disappointment over the silence of the Rivers State Government on ceaseless killings happening on Bonny waterways.

The youths on Monday staged a protest in Bonny Island over the killings by sea pirates which they say have gone unabated.

Multiple protesters expressed sadness over the muteness of government on issues bothering the predominantly fishing oil-rich communities.

They separately told Peoples Gazette that their 5-point demands from the government are; to set up and maintain security house and gunboats with an ambulance at strategic points along the Port Harcourt and Bonny routes, profiling of all boat drivers and owners including drivers plying villages, setting up of a community surveillance team along sea routes.

Other requests include that the federal government, NDDC, and state government repair Bonny ring roads to aid security in Island villages and compensation for all victims of sea pirates’ attacks.

Peoples Gazette on Monday reported that fisher folks in Bonny are lamenting over the constant attack by pirates. An attack the gazette learnt is majorly focused on carting away boat engine, which is worth N1.8million.

The Gazette learnt that the Bonny youths convened at Coal Beach on Monday and moved to the palace of the community’s traditional ruler to tender the 5-point demand to the Bonny Council of Chiefs.

The demands were received by Chief Abel Attoni, with a promise that the King will take up their demands seriously.

The youth also proceeded to the Local Government Council to seek the chairman’s attention and present the 5-point demands, but Wisdom Chapp-Jumbo, one of the protesters told the Gazette that the chairman failed to address them.

Mr. Chapp-Jumbo said the Secretary of the council had approached them to address their issue but they insisted on seeing the elected council boss.

“We waited till this morning about 1:am, the chairman didn’t address us. We were waiting until the rain fell and we all dispersed to our homes. The rain is still falling. We are disappointed,” Mr. Chapp-Jumbo added.

He said upon the failure of the chairman to address the youth, they will be protesting to government house in Port Harcourt to tender their 5-point demands to the Governor, Nyesom Wike on Thursday.

” We have taken permission from the commissioner of police and it has been granted to conduct a peaceful protest to the government house to tender our grievance,” Mr. Chapp-Jumbo said.

Maudlyn Green, another protester, expressed worries that the government has kept mum unending killings.

Ms. Green told the gazette that her uncle, a boat driver, was attacked in July 2020, and he died from complications from the injuries sustained. She also said the two youth killed recently are her closed friends.

Their boat was drowned by pirates while the paddle was used to flog them to death, she narrated painfully.

“That is why am joining the protest for the government to hear us. I can’t go to my village, Iyoba-Ama, a five minutes drive from Ataba in Andoni because of the fear of sea pirates,” Ms. Green said, adding that “all they want is a safe route to the village.”

In April and May 2017, Governor Nyesom Wike donated 8 gunboats to the Nigerian Navy to secure the waterways on the sea. He promised to donate more.

The Rivers State Police Command on January 6, 2021, deployed 366 constabularies to the entire 23 local government areas after 8-weeks of training at the police training school, Nonwa in Tai Local Government Area of Rivers.

Peoples Gazette reported that the NLNG provides at least a drum of fuel for security patrol, but a senior government official described the fuel as insufficient.