As Bayelsa state prepares for the Decembe5 election, the All Progressives Congress has cried out that its members are being attacked daily by the members of the People’s Democratic Party and as such would not sit by and watch members constantly harassed by suspected agents of the state government.
APC through Sylva/Igiri Campaign Organisation (SICO), the campaign outfit of its governorship candidate for the December 5 poll, Chief Timipre Sylva, said the harassment was being carried out by a support group of Governor Seriake Dickson, the Bayelsa Volunteer Force (BVF).
SICO in a statement by its Chairman, Non-Conventional Security Committee and lawmaker representing Brass Constituency 1 in the State House of Assembly, Mr Israel Sunny-Goli, claimed that it was inundated with calls of attack on residents and drivers who ply the Okaka road, near the secretariat of the BVF.
SICO said: “We have it on good authority that the dastardly act being carried out by more than fifty armed boys followed the directive of the Secretary of the Volunteer Force and former Chairman of Southern Ijaw Local Government Council, Mr Bonny Ayah, popularly called Inikiyor.
“The campaign organisation has uncovered plots by the leadership of the Bayelsa Volunteers Force to commence the house-to-house raid of known APC members to harm and intimidate them on behalf of their principal, Governor Seriake Dickson.
“The APC is calling on the governor to call his boys to order and focus on issues bordering on the election rather than resorting to molestation and criminality.
“We, therefore, urge the security agents in the state, particularly the Commissioner of Police and State Director of the State Security Services (DSS), to increase patrol on the now dreaded Okaka Road and entire Yenagoa to forestall the impending violent plot of the Bayelsa Volunteers.
“APC members will not fold their arms and allow the government and its agents continue to attack our supporters. We want to encourage our party faithful, supporters and members to go about their normal duty and not relent in canvassing votes for the Sylva-Igiri ticket for the Governorship election ahead of the December 5, election.”
Governor of Bayelsa State, Mr Seriake Dickson, said that persons suspected to be members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) were destroying campaign materials of his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Through his campaign team, the Restoration Campaign Organisation (RCO), Dickson said his party’s billboards, posters and fliers were vandalised.
RCO in a statement signed by its Publicity Secretary, Mr Jonathan Obuebite, implored security agencies in the state to intervene and halt the trend.
Obuebite, describing the development as disheartening and uncalled for, appealed to security agencies to avert possible political clash.
He said: “Most of the billboard erected by the ruling party in the state have been defaced while many were outright damaged by people identified as APC faithful.
“Over seventy per cent of our billboards in some communities in the state, to be precise, Kpansia, Agudama, Ovom and Igbogene have been defaced by the suspected members of the APC. This development lend credence to our position that APC is not ready for the contest, rather its members are looking for means to provoke us, so that there will be crisis in the state.
“We are law-abiding people and we abhor violence in all forms. It is therefore disheartening that all our billboards are being defaced and destroyed without cause.
“We appeal to the Nigeria Police Force and other law enforcement agencies to come to our aid and protect us from this assault. We want to carry on our activities in a peaceful manner to maintain the peace that has been prevalent in this State.”
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