…As DSS seeks collaboration of Plateau Assembly to reduce crimes***

About 416 forms of violence and 1,013 fatality cases were recorded in Niger Delta region in 2019, says Foundation for Partnership Initiative in the Niger Delta (PIND), an NGO.

According to PIND’s Annual Conflict Report on Niger Delta released by its Spokesperson, Chichi Nnoham, there was a rise in conflict risk and lethal violence in the region in 2019, compared with the trend in 2018.

“Overall, the most reported incidents of violence related to criminality (including piracy, abductions, robberies, and killing for ritualistic purposes), which totaled 260 incidents, resulted into 444 fatalities.

“This was followed by gang/cultists supremacy clashes with 272 fatalities in 78 reported incidents,” PIND said in the report made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

The report said that gang violence was reported in all the states in the region, but it was more prevalent in Rivers, Edo, and Delta state.

The foundation noted that communal/ethnic tensions was the third highest conflict issue in the region in 2019, resulting in 197 fatalities in 77 reported incidents which included land disputes, farmer/herder conflicts, and ethnic separatist agitation.

PIND said that political and election violence also caused over 100 fatalities during the period, especially in Rivers, Delta, and Bayelsa states.

“In the run-up to, and during the 2019 general elections, political tension was elevated in the Niger Delta. In February, for instance, 56 fatalities were reported in the region during the general elections.

“The hotspots of conflict in the region remained largely unchanged in 2019, compared to 2018,” PIND said in the report

According to the report, the most violent states during the period, based on the number of reported conflict fatalities, were Rivers, Delta, Edo, and Cross River.

The report also identified 10 local governments in six states as the most violent in the year 2019.

“The most violent local government areas (LGAs) in 2019 were Khana (Rivers), Oredo (Edo), Obio/Akpor (Rivers), Yenagoa (Bayelsa), Odukpani (Cross River), Mbo (Akwa Ibom), Emohua (Rivers) Ethiope East (Delta), Port Harcourt (Rivers), and Oyigbo (Rivers),” the report said.

According to findings in the report, April was the most violent month during the year with a total of 150 reported fatalities.

“In one incident in April, for instance, eight people were reportedly killed during clashes between rival cult groups in Rumuolumeni Community in Obio/Akpor Local Government area of Rivers State.

“Separately in April, 10 people were reportedly killed during a clash over a land dispute between some communities in Obubra Local Government Area of Cross River and a neighboring community in Ikwo Local Government Area of Ebonyi.

NAN reports that the PIND report covered 185 local government areas in nine states of the Niger Delta region.

In the meantime, the new State Director of Department of State Services (DSS) in Plateau, Mr Ibrahim Nyam, has sought the collaboration of the state House Assembly to reduce crimes and criminality in the state.

Nyam made the appeal on Monday in Jos when he visited the Speaker of the Assembly.

“I am here to seek your collaboration and synergy while discharging my duty.

“The State House of Assembly is a critical stakeholder; whatever decision it takes, whatever law it makes has impact on the security of the state.

“I am here to deepen the relationship with you so that we will be able to reduce the spate of insecurity bedeviling Plateau.

“I am particularly interested in the bills before you: that of insurgency, kidnapping and other crimes.

“In fact, I have been an advocate of stiffer penalties for such crimes,’’ he said.

The state director said that stiffer penalties would send message to would-be offenders that there would be consequences if they committed such crimes.

According to him, such will definitely assist the security situation which is getting very alarming.

He assured that he would be fair and objective in the course of his duty in the state.

Responding, the Speaker, Mr Abok Ayuba, described the visit as timely especially now that the prevailing peace in the state had been punctured.

Ayuba said that the Plateau celebrated many years of uninterrupted peace in Dec. 2019 only for the prevailing peace to be truncated in January by enemies of the state.

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The Speaker said after the inauguration of 9th Assembly in June 2019, it visited all security agencies in the state and sought their collaboration for the peace of the state.

He assured the DSS that the Assembly would continue to make laws that would promote peace and peaceful coexistence.

“Whatever you think we can do in addressing the security situation, we will not hesitate to do because the security of our people is paramount to us,’’ he added.