* How operatives killed extra-judicially – CLO
* With outfit’s ban, criminals chased out are
now back – Gov’s security adviser

By Samuel Oyadongha, Yenagoa

The Bayelsa State special security outfit, Operation Famou Tangbe (OFT), may have been proscribed by the police but this well-kitted and highly motivated outfit will remain evergreen in the minds of the people.

To some residents, OFT is nothing but a terror machine established by the government to do its bidding while some others saw it as a crime-bursting outfit which, against all odds, reduced the crime wave in Yenagoa and  environs and residents could go to bed with their two eyes closed.
When the outfit was established on September 3, 2010 in the wake of the upsurge in violent crimes in Bayelsa, it was hailed by the ordinary people, many of whom, at a point, could not walk at “dark spots” without being attacked by hoodlums.

But the opposition elements never saw anything good in the outfit especially given its timing, claiming that it was established by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the 2011 polls in the state to intimidate them.

Though the security outfit stemmed crime wave in the state capital through its swift response to distress calls, it later fell victim to the over zealousness of some of its personnel as allegations of extra_judicial killings and illegal arrest and detention were levelled against it.

What many however could not fathom was how the outfit funded with tax payers’ money turned around to hound those it was paid to protect as, according to the former chairman of Biseni-Okordia_Zarama Development Centre, Mr. Bolodiseye Ndiwari, “I was a victim of the Famou Tangbe.

I will not forget that Saturday, September 17, 2011 when I was dehumanized alongside  two of my siblings. We were outside my house at Kpansia discussing when the security operatives came and ordered us to move into their patrol vehicle. When I tried to introduce myself, one of them rained slaps on me and we were driven to their base where we were made to roll in muddy water and flogged with high tension cable. We were released the next day.”

The sacking of the outfit did not come as a surprise as the Civil Liberties Organisation, CLO, had been following the cases of abuse levelled against the personnel of the OFT.

The CLO, in a report, narrated, “On  22  February 2011, one 22 –year_old Ezonasa Dietemepreye  received a phone call from his friend simply identified as Bright at about11:00 a.m. and 12 noon. Bright said his friend should meet him at Osiri Road. Ezonasa was surprised at what he saw when he appeared at the location where Bright said they should meet.

Bright was in handcuffs inside one of the  vehicles of Operation Famou Tangbei. A surprised Ezonasa was not ready for arrest and, on the spur of the moment, he wanted to retreat; to run. Sadly, OFT operatives shot him at once on the shoulder and took him away alive [with blood oozing from the shoulder]. When the mother went to the office of the OFT that same day, she was not allowed access into the premises. They told her at the gate that her son was not there. She repeated the visit on the 27 March, 2011 and was told the same story; that her son was not there. Up till today, 23 September, 2011, the boy is yet to be seen. It is believed the OFT has killed him”.

Another killing by the outfit, according to the CLO, include that of a 25-year old boy, Tochukwu Uzukwu, as they ordered him, at gunpoint, to jump into a river and he drowned.

Also listed against the OFT is the case of torture and killing of a hotel staff.

The CLO also alleged that following a misunderstanding between one Mr.Tari Igabu and his girlfriend, Grace Bassey [which was already before the commissioner of police], operatives of the OFT stormed the house of  Igabu at Akenfa , at about mid-night; with two vans fully loaded with operatives armed with guns.

“They started with shooting into the air. When Tari came out, they reacted violently to him and he ran back into his house and locked the door.

The operatives of the OFT forced their way into the house and brought him out. He was severely beaten  and taken away naked to the OFT operational base and subjected to further torture where he suffered great bodily harm.  Up till now, he has not recovered from the injuries he sustained from that encounter. He has leaking ears now owing to the violence meted on him by the OFT. The unwarranted invasion/ attack by the OFT took place on 1 June, 2011”.

There was also the case of  a 22-year old Freddie Philip Ockiya who was bundled away from his father’s house at Yenegwe over his alleged membership of a cult group only for the parents to find his dead body at the Yenagoa Federal Medical Centre 24 hours after.

The Bayelsa secretary of CLO, Comrade Alagoa Morris, argued that though the setting up of the outfit and its responses to distress calls were swift and commendable, the outfit turned their office premises into a torture and extortion chamber, where victims were forced at gun point to undergo harrowing experiences, saying some who considered themselves lucky returned home maimed or injured physically or psychologically.

According to Morris, the outfit became a  terror machine that made arrested indiscriminately, while, with little or nothing to warrant it, they shot at will and introduced a culture of fear in the state.

The position of the human rights community notwithstanding, the dissolution of  the OFT has drawn condemnation from some Bayelsa stakeholders.

King Joshua Igbagara, chairman of the Bayelsa State Traditional Rulers Council and member of the state Security Council, described the dissolution as unfortunate.

The royal father, who commended the security outfit for its swiftness in responding to distress calls, noted: “Their alertness to duty was good. Call them any time, they were there. Except otherwise proved, OFT should return to save lives and property of Bayelsans.”

Chief Richrad Kpodoh, the special adviser to the governor on security matters, who oversaw the outfit, expressed shock at the dissolution of the  OFT.

Kpodoh expressed dismay that an outfit established by the state security council to save lives and property could be unilaterally dissolved by the Inspector-General of Police.

Appealing to the IG to return the outfit for the sake of effective security in the state, he pointed out : “We don’t want to form another outfit, OFT should be returned.

Kpodoh, who accused politicians of being behind the dissolution, said, “Those clamouring for the dissolution of the OFT are the politicians who want to bring bad boys into the state to cause problems.

“All the criminals that were chased out are now back”.
Also commenting on the issue, Hon. Daniel Igali, representing Southern Ijaw Constituency 3 in Bayelsa State House of  Assembly, vowed to raise a motion in the House to condemn the dissolution.

However, the CLO dismissed the position of those clamouring for the return of the OFT, saying, “We condemn this naked dance sponsored by the authorities and their cronies who either know nothing about human rights or pretend to be so and, doing what they are doing because they have filial attachment to their sponsors and masters. We have different units of the regular police and MOPOL. This is besides the other security agencies in the state.

“If Bayelsa government is serious about security, the regular police should be supported and, such support must not mean Government House should be in total control, as it was with Operation Famou Tangbe”.

Whichever way the OFT is viewed, it was able to cut crime rate in the Bayelsa State capital just as the dissolution has heightened fear of possible resurgence of crime.