Below is an article published by the Nation Online:

The Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) has “strongly” condemned Thursday’s [8 December 2011] killing of the cashier of Khana Local Government in Rivers State,, Mr. Lekia Nwiku by unknown assailants.

It also expressed displeasure over the spate of kidnappings in the country  especially that of the Nkpe (king) of Alesa-Eleme in Eleme Local Government Area, Chief J. D. Emperor.

The President of MOSOP, Ledum Mitee, who is also the Chairman of the Niger Delta Technical Committee (NDTC), said in Port Harcourt  that the security agencies must be alive to their responsibilities.

The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Rivers State chapter, through its Publicity Secretary, Jerry Needam, also deplored the level of insecurity in the state.

Nwiku, was killed soon after collecting from a bank in Port Harcourt an undisclosed amount of money for the payment of salary to employees of the LG. The incident occurred on the Saakpenwa-Bori Road. The cash was,however, recovered   intact by the police.

It was learnt that Nwiku was trailed by the gunmen from Port Harcourt.

The Commissioner of Police, Suleiman Abba, insisted that the command was on top of the security situation with policemen on the trail of criminals.

Abba, who described policing as a collective responsibility, urged the public to give useful information about criminals in their midst to the police, assuring that the informants’ identities would be well-protected.

Governor Rotimi Amaechi also described the state as safe and investment-friendly, while insisting that crimes were not peculiar to the state.

MOSOP, while receiving the sad reports of the kidnap of the Ogoni monarch and murder of the Khana LG cashier, stated that it found no justifiable reason for the callous and dastardly acts.

The Ogoni umbrella organisation said: “We feel pained at the escalating trend of the dastardly acts of doing business with peoples’ freedom and their lives. This is indeed a sad commentary on law enforcement machinery, especially in a country with increasing budgetary allocations for security votes, at all levels of government.

The Rivers state ACN, on its part said the resurgence of criminal activities in the state had further cast doubt on the capability of the security operatives to protect lives and property, in spite of the huge amount of money being spent on security vote.

It lamented that in the last few weeks, the state had witnessed unprecedented occurrence of bank robberies, kidnappings and maiming of innocent Nigerians in full public glare, without the least resistance from the security operatives.

ACN said: “Not even the villages, communities and the coastal waters are safe, as piracy and cult activities are on the increase, with their attendant threats to human lives and property.