Tension has gripped Bilabiri, a community in Ekeremor Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, after aggrieved ex-militants laid siege in the area.
The angry warlords were said to have stormed the community with different types of riffles and terrified the area with gunshots.
Sources said two groups of the former creek warriors engaged each other in a gun battle that lasted for hours.
This is against the backdrop of alleged diversion of amnesty welfare of the ex-militants by their former boss.
Stacatto of gunshots were said to be so deafening that residents of the area flee to the mangrove swamp for safety.
The fear-stricken residents were said to have abandoned their homes to seek refuge in bushes during the shooting that occurred in the morning. Sources said there was pandemonium in the community.
At the centre of the crisis was a known former ex-militant leader who the aggrieved shooters accused of diverting their monthly stipends. The gunmen who stormed the coastal community in about two speed boats were after a former militant leader simply identified as ‘Gen’ Pius.
The militant leader was said to have been protected during the attack by some of his loyalists who returned gunshots against the protesters, identified as his former “boys.”
Indigenes of the area were said to have fled to avoid being hit by stray bullets.
The militant leader sources said is an indigene of Egbema-Angalabiri but that he grew up at Bilabiri II.
The gunmen were said to have arrived the community shortly after the generator that supplied electricity to the area was switched off.
But it was learnt that no life was lost in the attack.
When contacted on the development, the Joint Task Force (JTF) Operation Pulo Shield confirmed that there were gunshots in the area.
The Media Coordinator, JTF, Lt. Col. Onyeama Nwachukwu, said: We heard there was exchange of fire between ex-militants in the area.”
He said though operatives of the task force were not deployed in the area, they were monitoring the waterways to combat criminality.
