From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
A former militant leader from Bayelsa State, General Dango Benin has warned politicians not to drag the Minister of State for Agriculture, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri into alleged destructive and dirty politics going on in the state,
He said Lokpobiri had no hand in the arrest of a chieftain of the People Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.
According to him, though Lokpobiri was a respected politician from the state, the claims that the minister was involved in the arrest of a PDP chieftain was laughable, fabricated and a show of desperation to soil the minister’s image.
Speaking yesterday with newsmen in Yenagoa, Benin said the actions and utterances of politicians on the ongoing investigation were distracting the minister.
“It has become the occupation of failed politicians in the state seeking recognition to develop a passion for disparaging the minister as a payback for dumping his former party (PDP). “Nobody or group would come up with any substantial evidence that the minister arrested a member of the major opposition party of the country. Just recently some political detractors of the minister raised their ugly head with cheap blackmail to rubbish the minister in the arrest of a former agitator from Delta State, and a strong supporter of PDP.
“This blackmail is fuelled by the insecurity of these desperate politicians in the state of losing at the tribunal, and also scared of the growing popularity of the minister and the political establishment of his party, APC, in Bayelsa State.”
