A Nigerian security official has been killed – shot by suspected assassins. The official, Gabriel Obom, was working undercover and was credited with many of the successes of security agencies against Niger Delta militants. He was also the government’s main witness in many cases against suspected militants. Obom was killed in the presence of his family in the coastal city of Port Harcourt. Officials describe his death as a huge blow to efforts to fight militancy in the oil-rich Niger Delta area.
Reporter Tony Tamuno told English to Africa reporter Chinedu Offor the authorities are making efforts to find those responsible for Obom’s death. Tamuno says the police are asking for public help in their efforts to solve the murder.
“The police say they have commenced investigation to find out who the killers are. There is this aspect of the killing that people are insinuating that was an informant to the authorities, especially the military task force. The police and the military people deny that, saying that he is just an ordinary native of Okrika who was killed by unknown gunmen, saying maybe it was a coincidence the killing took place when the authorities are battling the militants.”
Tamuno says the killing will hurt the government’s security efforts in the Delta. “If indeed the man who was killed in Okirika was a government informant, then it might send shivers and fears into the minds of other people because they will be reluctant to cooperate with the authorities in terms of providing information on the activities of militants, and by that the fight against militancy here might suffer a little setback.”
