Nation Newspapers delivery van set ablaze
By Samuel Oyadongha, Yenagoa
Suspected miscreants Mondy barricaded the Mbiama section of the East-West federal highway straddling the state of the Niger Delta and reportedly set ablaze a delivery vehicle belonging to the Nation Newspapers.
Mbiama is strategically located on the bank of the Orashi River in Rivers State and is a trading settlement bordering Rivers and Bayelsa State.
The delivery van which ran into the miscreants it was learnt was also conveying the latest edition of Newswatch magazine.
The ill-fated vehicle and its consignment were reportedly set ablaze in the early hours of Monday by the rampaging miscreants suspected to be arsonists.
Sources however told Vanguard that it took the intervention of onlookers to save the lives of the driver and his conductor from being roasted alive with the vehicle.
Though it could not be immediately known why the youths took to the federal highway but a security source told our correspondent that it might be connected with some ex-militants demanding to be integrated in the amnesty programme.
He recalled past incidents where the youths barricaded the East West road in protest over the refusal of the federal government to include them in the amnesty programme.
But an eyewitness differed saying the rampaging youths could not be described as ex militants as they were not carrying placards to buttress the reason for their action.
The development sources said left hundreds of commuters plying the route in the early of yesterday stranded for hours.
Those in hurry with appointment to meet up in Port Harcourt reportedly abandoned their vehicle and walk past the protesting youths to get to the other side of the bridge to board another vehicle to continue their journey.
It was however learnt that the intervention of the Joint Task Force in the Niger Delta region and the police prevented the situation from degenerating into bloodbath as they succeeded maintaining law and order and cleared the road for free flow of traffic.
Confirming the incident, the Bayelsa Commissioner of Police, Mr. Hilary Opara said the Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of operations and men from the Rivers State command had mobilized to the scene to disperse the miscreants.
