Wike extends curfew, says Rivers won’t be cowed

From Tony John, Port Harcourt

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has extended night curfew from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m, with effect from today, in order to stem dastardly attacks on security formations in the state.

The governor who disclosed this  in a broadcast, yesterday, said the State Security Council had reviewed the way and manner the recent attacks were executed and discovered that the perpetrators, who disguised themselves as security officers, moved in unhindered from Oyigbo to launch the attacks.

The governor who restated that Rivers would not be intimidated by the attacks nor cowed into succumbing to secessionist agenda, said the decision to extend the curfew was taken in the wake of multiple armed ambush on police checkpoints along the East-West road, which resulted in the  murder of seven police officers over the weekend.

“We wish to assure every resident that we are not intimidated by the sporadic and cowardly attacks on predetermined security targets by faceless criminals on our soil; neither will we be cowed into succumbing to a baseless and doomed secessionists agenda,” he said.

Wike, who consoled families of the dead officers and the State’s Police Command for the irreparable loss, declared that the government and security agencies were determined to deploy everything at their disposal to advance the safety and security of lives and property in the state.

“As a further step towards enhancing our collective safety, we have reviewed the existing night time curfew across the 23 local government areas, which will now start from 7 p.m. and end at 6 a.m. until further notice from tomorrow May, 11 2021.

The governor explained that security agencies were on the trail of the gunmen, who attacked security formations in the state. 

He expressed optimism that the culprits would all be arrested soon and brought to justice.