Economic activities in Oron, Akwa Ibom State have been crippled following the invasion of the community and subsequent closure of the waterways and beach market by men of the Nigerian Navy.
The invasion was triggered by a pirate attack on boat conveying a naval officer who was abducted recently while travelling from Oron to Calabar. It is still unclear if the officer is alive or dead.
Economic activities in Oron, Akwa Ibom State have been crippled following the invasion of the community and subsequent closure of the waterways and beach market by men of the Nigerian Navy.
The invasion was triggered by a pirate attack on boat conveying a naval officer who was abducted recently while travelling from Oron to Calabar. It is still unclear if the officer is alive or dead.
In reaction to this, the community said Navy officials arrived the market, carried out all forms of extortion and ordered the stoppage of all business activities in the market and beach. Boats, on their orders, have stopped berthing at Oron beach.
Stalls at the beach market were still deserted as at press time and the few traders who dared to display fish, crayfish and other goods on the dusty streets of Oron were harassed and chased away by the Navy.
Expressing the community's dismay over the development, the head of Idua Asang in Oron, where the beach market is located, Obong Edet Okon Ekpong, claimed that military and civil authorities were taking the people of Oron for granted by occupying their area for over two weeks without any explanation.
The chief, who said the community had taken steps to report the illegal occupation to the police authorities, the naval base at Ibaka and the Department of State Security, warned that if the occupation continues the people might be forced to fight back. He challenged the Navy to go after the pirates who abducted one of their officers instead of molesting innocent traders.
"Yesterday, with the chairman of Oron Local Government Area, Omar Esin, I went to the police, Navy and SSS officials, but they are not ready to do anything about the situation. Both the Navy and our politicians are not willing to take steps to deal with the real issues; rather they are punishing us," he said.
"I was in my house that morning when we learnt that pirates attacked the boat conveying the Navy official and took him away. I don't know if he was killed, but the driver of the boat jumped into the water and escaped. Since then we have not known peace," Ekpong said.
He regretted that indigenes of the area have suffered severe losses for the past two years as a result of pirate attacks, and nothing has ever been done by the police, Navy and SSS, who are meant to protect the waterways.
"In the past two years, I have witnessed a lot of attacks by pirates. Our people have lost their lives and property as a result of each attack. In one incident, a woman who wanted to protect her money put it inside her child's napkin while traveling, and as the pirates met them, they found the money there; they took the money and threw the child into the ocean and he drowned.
"A man in the boat who did not have money had his hand cut off by the pirates. On many occasions, our people who jump into the water trying to escape from the pirates and are unable to swim drown. No military or Navy personnel has done anything about it," he said.
Some of the traders along the road also commented on the situation, claiming that they have lost millions of naira as a result.
"In the past two years, there have been coordinated attacks by the pirates. There is no bank in this fishing port, so we carry cash. Each time our traders are travelling, they attack and take the entire money, running into several millions of naira. "Also, once they find a new boat worth more than N3 million, they throw everyone in it into the river and take away the boat. This is how we have been losing lives and money.
"We took our complaints to the military, the Army sent men to help us but the Navy did not allow them to operate, saying that the water belongs to them. So we have continued to suffer and this time it has affected the Navy," one of the traders who did not want to be named said.
The commander in charge of Information, NNS Jubilee in Ikot Abasi said he was not in a position to speak on the matter.
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