Opposition leaders distributing arms in Bayelsa, says Dickson

Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, on Saturday accused security agencies of aiding opposition leaders in the state to stockpile illegal arms ahead of the forthcoming general elections.

Dickson, who was visibly angry while addressing the state in a live radio broadcast, said despite all intelligence and reports he tendered to security commanders, those involved in illegal arms were still allowed to work free.

The governor, who mentioned specific names of opposition leaders, said the report available to him indicated that arms were being distributed to cultists to cause mayhem and unleash violence on innocent people at the poll.

He mentioned Brass, Southern Ijaw, Ekeremor and Nembe local government areas as where such arms distribution were ongoing without any efforts of security agencies to investigate and arrest persons behind it.

He said Nigeria would be qualified for a failed state if people were denied the opportunity to participate in a free and fair process of electing their leaders.

“A nation where security agencies will collude with criminals and terrorists known for bringing arms to disrupt the election is a failed country”, he said adding that the same characters known for electoral violence since 1999 had continued to destabilise the state.

Dickson said having managed the most trying period in the state’s and resisted intimidation from opposition leaders, he was worried about theatre of the state after his departure.

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He said after losing the last governorship election and failing at litigations, the opposition leaders took a decision to undermine his government and destabilise the state.

The governor alleged that the opposition leaders with support from other external forces were planning to turn the state to the Sambisa Forest by tampering with the security architecture through frequent redeployment of security commanders.

Dickson lamented that most of the opposition leaders were using their position as surveillance contractors to arm cultists for electoral purposes.

The governor immediately inaugurated a committee of inquiry headed by retired Justice Margaret Akpomimieye with the mandate to investigate the activities of the surveillance contractors in the state and report to the government within 21 days.

He said even if the security agencies failed to act on the expected report of the committee, he would file it in state’s archive for posterity.

The governor appealed to the people of the state to reject the APC candidates and vote for the candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The governor further asked the people to resist any form of intimidation and warned that election days were not designed for people to die.

His words: “We have to be concerned about the safety of our voters first before anything else. It is the job of security agencies to guarantee the safety of voters. A country where lives and property are not protected is a failed state. That is a ‘shit hole’ country so nobody should blame President Donald Trump when he said, African countries are presiding over ‘shit hole’ countries.

“In this country, we have had several instances where security men and women in uniform collude with criminal and terrorist in rigging elections and undermine the peace and stability of states like Bayelsa.

“We now have partisan security officials who have become an armed wing of the ruling party. They are not interested in peace, law and order; their concern is more in political conquest than maintenance of law and order in this state.

“They have undermined the security of this state in such a way that I have lost count of the number of Commissioner of Police redeployed  to the state within a space three months. This is the 10th CP they have sent.

“I am a governor whose authority has been most undermined in the area of security management of this state. I have records where security officers in Abuja will be calling militants and cult leaders, and how they give cover to their nefarious activities under the pretext of carrying out surveillance contracts.

“The new law is that if you are an APC members, you cannot be arrested when you kill. As an APC member, you can buy guns, get uniform, camp militia, kill and nothing happens.”

When journalists visited the state secretariat of the APC to get reactions from the party since most names mentioned by Dickson are members of the party, the state Chairman, Jothan Amos, said he was too busy to speak on the matter.