Dozens of passengers traveling to Cameroun along the coastal routes of Oron and Ibaka in Mbo Local Government Areas of Akwa Ibom state in the last couple of days are reportedly stranded on the high seas (Akwa Akpa), following seige by sea pirates, the media reports on Friday.
Speaking to our Correspondent yesterday in Oron LGA, one of the stranded passengers, Effiong Ating, a businessman, who shuttles between Akwa Ibom and Cameroun, lamented that “many of the travellers to Cameroun are currently held up along Akwa Akpa (big sea) since Tuesday.”
Narrating his ordeal, Ating, explained that “I had to cancel the trip and abandoned my wares, because I can’t risk my life. My major business is buying things like seafoods here, take them to Cameroun for sale, and also buy what they have there at cheap rates to sell them here.
“But as it is now, the waters have become like a war front because the rate of attacks by sea criminals have become more intense, rampant and more organized than armed robbers off the shores.”
He disclosed that “there was intense exchange of gunfire between the sea criminals and armed marine vigilantes hired by the stranded passengers to escort them to the other side of Cameroun”, fearing that “some of them may have been killed.
In the same vein, Asuquo Essang, a fisherman from Unyinge community in the adjoining Mbo LGA, said they had since withdrawn their boats following heightened attacks by the armed hoodlums on high seas.
“For some time now, we have suspended fishing business deep into the high sea of Ibaka and other water bodies. We only fish around the peripheral locations proximity to the beach and around the Effiat waterways.”
Calling on the Federal Government to assist the state in tackling the menace, Essang, lamented that several fishermen and travellers have been killed and hundreds of outboard engines stolen by the Marine criminals.
The Commissioner of Police, Olatoye Durosinmi, had deployed marine Police to tackle the sea pirates around Akwa Ibom coastal waters. Also, two weeks ago, the Nigerian Air force, also launched ‘Operation Still Water’ as deterrent measures, but Essang, said “the operations only appear to embolden the sea criminals.”
