EIGHT pirates on Tuesday shot and killed an indigene of Ituk-Mbang, Mr. Hansley Edet, on Oron waterway when he was returning from Cameroun to Nigeria.
The pirates were said to have aimed the gun at the driver of the boat, but missed the target. Having shot Edet in the armpit, the pirates were said to have ordered the boat into an island in Oron and stripped its occupants.
It was learnt that the pirates stole the boat, an outboard engine, money, fish, clothes, and also N450,000 “contribution” Edet collected the previous day.
Eyewitness and relation to the deceased, Mr. Effiong Etim, told Southern City News that the moment they entered the Nigerian territory, the pirates began to chase them.
Etim stated that when the pirates got near their boat, they opened fire, adding that all the passengers laid flat on the boat.
He said, “As we came back from Cameroun at about 7.30am, we saw pirates at a river in Oron. There were 10 boats, including us, who ran into them.
“There was shooting everywhere and the first boat that started the shooting had eight persons in it while the second boat had six persons. The pirates were on two gun boats.
“As the pirates started shooting, everyone had to lie flat in the boat, but the boat was a small one; it was a speed boat and so everyone had to bend down while the pirates were chasing people and shooting.
“The man that was murdered was sitting close to the driver. So, as they were about shooting the driver, a stray bullet hit him.
“So, as the pirates shot at our driver, he (the driver) jumped into another smaller boat because our boat almost capsized. That was how they captured us and took us to the bush,” he said.
Etim stated that the pirates searched all the boats and persons on them when they took them ashore, adding that he begged the pirates to release the corpse of the deceased to him since he was his brothers.
According to him, he asked them (pirates) to take anything they wanted and let them ferry the dead man to the village, but the pirates declined and seized the boat from them.
He said, “They collected the boat and even went ahead to pursue other small boats which had small engines, seized them and asked two persons among us to join them in the boat.”
Etim, who is 43 years old, said he had worked with the deceased for 16 years. He added that they had been encountering pirate attacks on the sea almost on weekly basis.
The deceased’s wife, Mrs. Itoro Effiong, 29, and mother of three, said her husband only went on a business trip and was surprised to see his corpse.
The woman said the deceased left five children with the oldest 27 and the youngest four.
The deceased’s sister, Mrs. Maria Edet, 30, said she suspected foul play, especially as the incident happened around the time the deceased collected contribution (funds).
“This morning, we received a call from the wife of my brother that her husband had been killed. On getting here, I met the people who brought his corpse and I was told that he collected a contribution at his place of business at Western Cameroun.
“I was told that as he was on his way already in the Nigerian territory, pirates came from nowhere, shot my brother and collected the money that on him.
“The money was N450,000. I suspect that an insider must have connived with the pirates.
According to what I heard, my brother was not alone in the boat; they were about 16 and he was the only person shot,” she said.
When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Cordelia Nwawe, said she was not aware of the killing, maintaining that the matter had not been reported to the police.
“I do not have that information yet. I cannot comment on what I do not have knowledge about. But now that you have told me, I will commence investigation into the matter,” she said.
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