A notorious armed group and their reign of terror along the creeks of Azuzuama, Lorbia and other parts of Southern Ijaw area of Bayelsa State led by an ex-militant known as Young Money, alias Virus, have been cut short by the combined team of Joint Task Force (JTF) and the Nigeria police.
Speaking to newsmen in Yenagoa, the Chief of Staff of the Commander of the JTF, ‘Operation Pulo Shield’ Colonel Farouk Yahaya, explained that Jackson Fabowei , who is the mastermind of the killing of 11 policemen on the 5th of April 2013, has been arrested.
According to Yahaya, Fabowei was arrested on the 6th of June, 2013 around Ekibri near Azuzuama in Southern Ijaw local government area.
Other members of the group, according Col.Yahaya, include Lucky Bakumo alias Blacky, Egedin Gooday Sunday alias Community, Young Money alias Virus, Emeka Samuel Blacky, Idowu Mathew, Famous and Odenyen Zinikware. They are all identified at beneficiaries of the ongoing amnesty programme of the federal government.
‘’Fabowei was arrested as a result of security operations in the last few months in Lorbia, Okube, Exetu, Ekibri and Azuzuama communities of Southern Ijaw. This operation led to the burning down of hide outs, war-like materials and arms. It also led to the deployment of troops and made the area untenable to criminals’’, Yahaya said.
‘’This was achieved through sound intelligence gathering by the concerted efforts of the JTF and other security agencies. The suspect will be handed over to the police for further necessary investigation and prosecution. The JTF and other security agencies are on the trail of all criminals in our area of responsibility including other members of Jackson’s group’’, Yahaya said.
Jackson Fabowei, a 400 level Law student of the Niger Delta University, Ammasoma in the oil-rich Bayelsa State and was regarded by his peers as one of the brightest brains from the Southern Ijaw axis of the state, told LEADERSHIP Weekend in a special chat at the detention centre of the Nigeria police that his involvement in crime and criminality along the creeks and waterways of Southern Ijaw was prompted by the need to gather wealth like other ex-militants in the region.
Speaking to LEADERSHIP Weekend on how he took part in the killing of the policemen, Fabouwei said, ‘’I was ashamed when I saw some of my peers claiming to have millions of naira as ex-militants and driving posh cars. I was busy studying to be a lawyer. Some even said they would patronise me and dash me few naira notes. I was insulted and I took it as a challenge.’’
He admitted that though the years of militancy and armed struggle in the Niger Delta region had trained him in the act of arms handling and killings in the past, ‘’I have never envisaged that I will use a gun to kill a fellow Ijaw brother or rob people to make money.’’
Before he joined the nefarious group, Fabowei said he tried and lobbied an oil servicing company operating in Lorbia community to employ him as a security surveillance contractor, a job he was doing before he ran into trouble with the Ijaw over his involvement in the April 5 gruesome killing of policemen in Bayelsa.
‘’That very day we killed the policemen, we collected nine guns from them. As we got to the camp, there was a boy called Odie, he said we should go to Okugbe, by the time we went to Okugbe and came back, he had collected five of the guns and drove to Ezetu.
Fabowei, however, admitted that the leader of the killer gang known as General Virus is still at large in Port Harcourt, Rivers State while four others have gone into hiding in cities like Calabar and Warri in Cross River and Delta states respectively.
He also disclosed that he was forced at gun point to participate in the killing of the policemen, adding that the killing was led by General Virus and carried out with seven AK 47 guns and Kala gun stolen from the country home of the former leader, known as Young Shall Grow.
‘’As a surveillance contractor, I had MG 3 machine gun and we gathered at Lorbia market to launch the attack on the policemen. We positioned at the market and waited for the boat convoy of the burial procession for the mother of the ex-militant leader. The policemen’s boat came to the jetty, but General Virus insisted that the policemen should be killed and we opened fire on them.
‘’When we came down from the shooting point, we saw that one was injured while others were killed. I pleaded and asked that we save the lives of the ones that were not dead, but Virus said Young Shall Grow has offended them many times and the policemen must be executed. He was also the one that ordered that we pour them fuel and burn them.’’
