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Nigerian Police Intensify Search for Body of Slain Militant Leader

   Chinedu Offor | Washington DC 25 August 2010

   Nigerian  security  officials say they are searching for the body of a
   former  rebel  commander who was killed yesterday in the coastal city
   of Port Harcourt.  Officials say he was shot by unidentified gunmen
   while playing soccer.

   The  murdered  man,  Saboma George, was a former commander of the main
   militant group, MEND.

   The  government  says  he  was  killed by rival underworld a gang. The
   police  commissioner  of  Rivers State, Suleiman Abba, says it was the
   killers who took away his body.

   But some think the government was complicit in the killing.

   âOur  government and our leaders are not sincere about peace returning
   to  the Niger Delta,â says Onoengiya Erekosima, president of the Niger
   Delta Non-Violent Movement.  âWe gave them a proposal that will solve
   this problem so that nobody repeats it, but the government has refused
   to listenâ¦.â

   Erekosima  says  the  government has failed on its promise not only to
   rehabilitate  the militants who embraced the amnesty program, but also
   to improve security in the area.

   âWhatever  gangs  there  are  â  the  government is aware of all their
   activities,  but  they  donât want to do anything because they benefit
   from the crisis.â

   Nigerian officials deny the accusation.

   Erekosima  says he had encouraged the late militant leader to drop his
   arms and accept the governmentâs amnesty program.

   The killing has raised tension in the state, with colleagues of George
   upset over his death, says Erekosima. Â The incident is renewing fears
   that violence in the oil-rich region will escalate.

   âIt  happened  very  close  to  one  of the police stations that  was
   attacked  before  by  gangs  and no officer responded to the shooting.
   Â Most of the militant leaders are planning to do something but we are
   talking to them to take the path of peace.â

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