Rescue operations continued on Wednesday to recover seven people feared drowned after a boat mishap during a confrontation between protesting residents of Kula Kingdom in Akuku-Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State and military personnel escorting an oil vessel out of the community’s waterways.
The incident occurred on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, at Robertkiri waterways when a tugboat, accompanied by military personnel, attempted to tow away a 200,000-barrel-capacity oil vessel operated by the Ibeto Group.
The vessel was reportedly being moved out of the area after about two years of oil operations, despite protests by members of Kula’s satellite communities and fishing settlements over unresolved grievances against the company.
Among the seven persons still missing is Davies Opiri, Secretary of the Kula Community Development Committee (CDC). Two members of a local security outfit associated with Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, popularly known as the Amama Soldiers, are also among the missing.
Other missing persons were identified as David Sukubo, Endwell Ameme, Aboy Umeonu and Nye Oriye.
Eight persons were reportedly rescued alive following the mishap involving a speedboat carrying more than 15 persons and the tugboat.
The protesting residents had vowed to prevent the oil vessel from leaving their coastal waters until outstanding issues concerning alleged environmental pollution, unpaid royalties and debts owed to local vendors who provided services to the company were resolved.
The residents accused the Ibeto Group of polluting their waterways, fishing ports and creeks during its operations in the area. They also alleged that the company failed to meet its financial obligations to host communities and local contractors.
However, rescue efforts involving the Divisional Police Officer of Abonnema Police Division, the President of the National Youth Council of Nigeria, Ambassador Sukubo Sara-Igbe Sukubo, community chiefs and other indigenes had yet to recover any of the seven missing persons more than 24 hours after the incident.
One of the survivors, Gibert Pokubo, blamed the military personnel accompanying the tugboat for the mishap.
Pokubo alleged that the soldiers were acting on the instructions of the Ibeto Group to forcefully remove the vessel from the area without regard for obstacles or the presence of protesting residents.
The allegation had not been independently verified as of the time of filing this report.
Jonah Joshua, one of the leaders of the search and rescue team, expressed hope that the missing persons would be found.
He called for accountability, insisting that the Ibeto Group and the military personnel attached to the Nigerian Army’s Sector 3 Command in Okrika should be held responsible for what he described as the avoidable deaths of innocent people.
A relative of one of the missing persons, Stephen Willbraide, said the incident had left the victim’s wife, children and other family members devastated.
Willbraide called for a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding the boat mishap and demanded justice for the affected families.
The search and rescue operation was expected to continue on Wednesday as community members and security personnel combed the creeks and waterways around Robertkiri for the missing persons.
The incident has further heightened tensions between the affected Kula communities and the Ibeto Group over allegations of environmental damage and outstanding obligations arising from the company’s operations in the area.
