By Jimitota Onoyume

PORT HARCOURT— Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People, MOSOP, has condemned the killings in Ogoni, Rivers State, saying between March and April this year,  about seven prominent sons of the area had been shot dead by unknown assailants.

Similarly, Senator Magnus Abe, All Progressives Congress, APC, candidate for Rivers South-East senatorial district at the yet to be concluded legislative re-run election in Rivers State, has decried the politicisation of crime in the state.

Speaking to newsmen at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa, on his way to Abuja, Abe said that crime in the state was festering because Governor Nyesom Wike, Mr. Felix Obuah and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, leadership in the state were playing politics with criminality.

“What is escalating crime in Rivers State today is the politicisation of crime. We should stop politicizing crime. What is happening is too serious for politics.”

He accused the state government of paying lip service to issues of security and pretending to encourage law enforcement agencies to apprehend criminals and at the same time obstructing them from performing their duties.

On his part, MOSSOP President,  Mr Legborsi Pyagbara, who spoke through spokesman of the body, Mr Bariaria Kpalep, said, Ogoni were disturbed by the ugly incident, describing same as part of ploy by detractors to frustrate implementation of the recommendations of the United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP, in the area.

Appealing to those behind the killings to stop, he enjoined security operatives to do more to secure lives and property in the area.

“We call on the security agents to wake up from their slumber and do the needful. We are also calling on all those involved in the killings and other acts of violence to have a rethink and give peace a chance. We are also calling on all Ogonis to come together and work concertedly to salvage the Ogoni situation,”  he said.