From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
Kinsmen of former president Goodluck Jonathan have raised the alarm over alleged attack on members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.
They vowed to send a petition to the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammad Adamu, on the development, to prevent a breakdown of law and order in the area.
The kinsmen, under the auspices of the Ogbia PDP Renaissance (OPR), in a statement by their Chairman, Obhioru Mitanoni, noted that with 20 days to the election, PDP members are being attacked, harassed, and intimidated in different parts of the local government area.
Mitanoni accused the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Ogbia Federal constituency, Samuel Ogbuku, of masterminding the attacks, because of fears of losing the election.
While calling on security agencies to urgently wade into the issue and arrest the situation, as the attackers, mostly youths, have allegedly been armed with sophisticated weapons, to harass PDP members, OPR expressed dismay that Jonathan’s local government area would come under attack by the APC, and PDP leaders in the area would feign ignorance.
The statement read in part: “We are now confronted with one of the worst political violence in Ogbia local government. On a daily basis, thugs loyal to the APC candidate are brutalising our members. We have it on good authority, that the APC candidate for the Ogbia Federal Constituency procured all manners of arms, to cause mayhem before and during the election. This is because he knows he will fail. We are, however, shocked that despite the ugly development, some leaders of our party, the PDP, are giving tacit endorsement to the candidate of the APC and even sponsoring his rascality in the area. This is, indeed, sad. It has confirmed our earlier position that the APC candidate enjoys the support and backing of the former president and his wife.”
However, Ogbuku, in an interview denied all the allegations by OPR and accused the group of spreading lies by repeating all the allegations it had earlier made against the Jonathan family.
He said the group has nothing new to say aside its old allegations, and urged the public to disregard anything coming from the group.