Bayelsa Guber: APC Accuses Dickson Of Importing Over 5,000 Armed Thugs.

The Director, Media and Publicity, Sylva-Igiri Campaign Organisation, Mr. Nathan Egba, on Saturday raised the alarm over alleged violent attacks on members and supporters of the All Progressives Congress across Bayelsa State.
Egba said the party had it on good authority that Governor Seriake Dickson allegedly imported over 5,000 thugs from neighbouring states of Delta and Rivers to cause violence in the election.


He alleged that unknown faces had been terrorising people with gun shots to scare them away from the polling units in most of the riverine communities of Bayelsa.

He said, “The wave of attacks has confirmed our fears and the alarm earlier raised that Governor Dickson was the one planning to cause violence.

“The affected communities are Oporoma in Southern Ijaw LGA, where the state Chairman of the APC, Tiwei Orunimighe, hails from; Nembe LGA; Brass LGA home of the APC governorship candidate, Timipre Sylva; and Ekeremor LGA home of the Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri.

“In Nembe-Ogbolomabiri on Friday, two APC members were shot, until the Military Task Force ordered every resident to go into their houses and remain indoors.

“In Sagbama town, headquarters of Sagbama LGA, one APC supporter was attacked. Sagbama is the LGA of Governor Dickson, who is the PDP candidate.

“In Oporoma, headquarters of Southern Ijaw LGA, it took the military force to repel the PDP thugs who had planned to snatch the sensitive election materials. Four persons were reportedly killed in the gun battle.”

Egba further alleged that Sylva was attacked by PDP supporters at Odioma community in Brass LGA, on Friday evening.

He said it took the intervention of the Joint Task Force to repel the thugs and whisked the former governor and his entourage away.

However, the PDP accused the APC of working with soldiers to intimidate its supporters in the governorship election.

In a series of tweets via its official Twitter handle, the PDP alleged that its supporters in Brass and Ekeremor LGAs of the state were intimidated on Saturday morning, a development it described as completely unacceptable.

“All through the night, APC thugs escorted with soldiers went round terrorising Bayelsans. #BayelsaDecides,” the PDP tweeted around 9:30am on Saturday.

The party added, “The intimidation of our party agents and supporters that took place in Brass and Ekeremor LGAs this morning is completely unacceptable.”

It also accused INEC of failing to make adequate provisions for incident forms, noting that card reader failure was reported across various LGAs in the state.

The PDP further accused APC in one of the tweets of trying to destroy the electoral gains made by the country just because it wanted to win elections at all cost.