Ahead of Saturday’s governorship supplementary election in Southern-Ijaw Local Government Area (LGA) and 101 polling units across Ekeremor, Nembe, Sagbama and Yenagoa LGAs in Bayelsa State, the spate of violence and attacks have taken an alarming level with sporadic shootings between the camps of the leading governorship candidates of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and incumbent Governor Seriake Dickson and those of the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Timipre Sylva.
The spate of violence is alarming in spite of the 3,500 armed Police personnel and 10 gunboats deployed to the state and the directive by the Inspector-General of Police Solomon Arase that security escorts be withdrawn from all VIPs from the state ahead of today’s polls.
Also, two persons suspected to be thugs hired by one of the political parties were arrested by the men of the Nigerian Navy in Peremabiri Community of Southern Ijaw LGA of the state.
The thugs entered the community to disrupt the election, but were arrested by a special vigilante outfit put together by the Peremabiri Community. Sources in the community informed our correspondent that tension was heightened in Peremabiri as series of attempts to invade the community and unleash mayhem was repeatedly warded off by the youths led by the foremost ex-militant leader, Comrade Eris Paul, popularly known as “Ogunboss “.
While one of the suspects identified as Ebi, was arrested after a hot chase by the community boys before he was whisked away by Naval officers, the other suspect was arrested while hiding in the bush waiting for nightfall before he could launch his deadly attack.
Ebi, who was arrested by members of the community on an alleged attempt to cause mayhem in Peremabiri, reportedly confessed that he was invited by a friend to come and vote and be paid N50,000 after the exercise.
The inability of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to distribute non-sensitive materials in the areas where elections would take place today, due to lack of manpower and logistics, following the limited number of boats available for use, resulted in the violence between supporters of Dickson and Sylva.
As the PDP supporters were planing to protest against attempts by some APC chieftains to take control of the election materials, led to bloody attacks which left the one-time Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Honourable Boyelayefa Debekeme and the Chairman of the Ekeremor Local Government Council, Honourable Billy Tobiye, with various degrees of injuries.
It was also gathered that the Ward Agent of the PDP and Secretary of the local government council, Tams Alari and traditional ruler of Ekeremor, His Royal Highness Agbodo Gbaseimo, were also injured in the violence.
The attack threw the entire community into pandemonium as some infuriated groups threatened to pull down the state government lodge, alleging that the building was housing thugs hired by PDP chieftains.
The troubled Ekeremor local government area is the home town of the Minister of State for Agriculture, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri with over 13,000 votes for grabs.
A source from the Bayelsa State Government House said the armed men were hired by APC and that they were brandishing dangerous weapons including guns, machets and cudgels and were clearly high on drug-infused adrenaline, “the invaders unfazed by the presence of security operatives, descended on Honourable Debekeme and the others with machets and other weapons of war.
“Debekeme received deep machet cuts on his head and other parts of his body, while Alari and Tobiye were beaten to stupor by the rampaging militants who claimed to be acting the script of their master.
“A helpless policeman on duty was saved by soldiers who came to his rescue and recovered his arms from the hoodlums. The recovered arms are still with the soldiers as the assault proceeded, as staff of the Governor’s Lodge scampered for safety and the militants took over the entire community,” the source declared.
The injured former Speaker, according to reports, was receiving treatment at an undisclosed hospital in Torugbene community of Ekeremor local government and the duo of the Council Chairman, Tobiye and Alari are also receiving treatment at another undisclosed hospital in Bomadi, Delta State.
As early as 8:00am Friday, the distribution of sensitive and non-sensitive materials commenced at the State Headquarters of INEC amidst tight security.
The electoral materials, which were separated according to Wards and Units, were moved through the Government jetty for onward locations to the appropriate places.
As at the time of writing this report, some officials of INEC confirmed that materials for 13 wards have been distributed in the early hours and materials for the remaining four wards were expected to arrive at the volatile areas of Southern Ijaw by evening.
At about 5:00pm Friday, some materials meant for the four remaining wards of Southern Ijaw LGA were returned to the INEC Headquarters due to lack of available boats.
A corps member, simply identified as Frank, said the journey to Southern Ijaw LGA was postponed due to the fear of attacks under the cover of darkness.
-Leadership
