Bayelsa: Tension over plans to extradite Alamieyesiegha

Fresh moves to extradite ex- governor, Diepreye Alamieyesiegha to the United Kingdom is generating serious tension in Bayelsa State.

Already, many socio-political organisations have described the plan as a wrong step in the wrong direction.

Chairman of the Bayelsa State caucus in the National Assembly, Foster Ogola, condemned the plan in Yenagoa during a function where Bayelsa State governor, Seriake Dickson, was endorsed for a second term by several Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and civil society organisations.

He raised posers on the rationale for the extradition notice by Britain.

According to him, the latest moves were suspicious, adding that Alamieyesiegha had gone through a legal process, prosecuted by a competent court of jurisdiction, indicted, sentenced and was granted presidential pardon.

“What is the basis of this new extradition having gone through all legal process culminating in a presidential pardon?” he queried.

Read also: Bayelsa: Fresh crisis hits APC over Sylva’s deputy

Ogola, who spoke on behalf of his colleagues in the National Assembly therefore called for restraint on the extradition moves in the interest of justice.

Lending his voice to Ogola’s position, Bayelsa State Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Serena Dokubo-Spiff, who also spoke at the event condemned the extradition notice which, he said, smacked of high level conspiracy.

He accused the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state as brains behind the extradition plot which he regarded as a conscious step to destroy the Ijaw nation. This, he said, was unfortunate and a clear injustice.

On its part, the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) reiterated its position on an earlier statement about the extradition notice, warning that the Ijaw nation will not sit idly and watch its leaders disgraced by those it referred to as “cabals’ in the Buhari administration.

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