PDP accuses FG, APC of trying to takeover Bayelsa by force

The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the Federal Government and ruling All Progresives Congress (APC) of trying to takeover Bayelsa State using force in the forthcoming 2019 general elections.

According to PDP, the FG and APC are employing siege mentality to achieve its aim, alleging that in the past four months, four Commissioners of Police have been posted to the state, in what the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Kola Ologbondiyan described as a subtle plot to weaken the PDP ahead of the polls.

Ologbondiyan, who addressed journalists at the party’s national secretariat on Friday, warned of dire consequences should the ruling party resort to illegitimate means of taking over the state.

According to him, leaders and supporters of the PDP would not bow to acts of harassment and intimidation from any quarters regardless of “where it is coming from.”

He said: “It is no longer news that the APC, for obvious reasons, has been bent on forcefully taking over the control of oil rich Bayelsa and other littoral states, for which it now seeks to turn into theatres of war, with the support of certain individuals in control of federal apparatus of power.

“Today, the PDP and the people of Bayelsa state are being pushed to the wall as with the on-going plot by the APC and the Buhari Presidency to bully the people of Bayelsa and politically annex the state, by the use of crude force.

“The PDP alerts Nigerians of the current design to use security agencies, particularly the police to browbeat the people, foist a siege mentality on the state, trigger confusion and violence; then create an impression of security emergency with a view to use such as justification for a coordinated invasion, attack and annexing of political structures of the state for President Buhari and the APC ahead of the 2019 general elections.

“In a bid to forcefully seize control of Bayelsa state, the APC is attempting to convert the Police into its violent militant wing, leading to the violations of rules of engagement and putting security agencies on collusion course with the people despite potential bloody consequences.

“In its desperation, the APC has directly influenced the Inspector General of Police into posting eight different Commissioners of Police to Bayelsa state within the last three months just to destabilize the state.”

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Continuing, Ologbondiyan said some of the Police Commissioners spent less than a week before being pulled out of the state by the police authorities that he said have unfortunately acceded to the demands of the APC on the deployment of police chiefs to Bayelsa State.

“We are privy to the fact that some of the Police Commissioners were changed due to their failures to infiltrate the firm resolve of the people to remain peaceful and determinedly supportive of the development-oriented PDP administration in the state, under Governor Seriake Dickson.

“The PDP is also aware of series of meetings in Abuja involving certain cabinet ministers, two particular Presidency aides, some APC leaders, some top security officers and certain compromised officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, including a close relation of President Buhari, where plots to destabilize Bayelsa state were hatched and orders handed to the police.

“We have documentary evidence of these meetings and will not hesitate to make them public if the APC fails to steer clear of Bayelsa state.

“The fact remains that the APC knows that it cannot win any election in Bayelsa state as well as other littoral states or any PDP state for that matter. As such, it believes that the only way for them is to use security agencies to frighten Nigerians and break their resolve ahead of the 2019 polls.

“Let it be known to the APC, the Presidency and their compromised security personnel that their assault on Bayelsa will definitely attract very terrible consequences, as it will be firmly resisted by the people, head to head, with every means available, accessible and implementable in the defence of democracy.”

The party also warned the federal government not to forget that “Section 2 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) amply provided that no person shall take control of the government of our nation or any part thereof, except in accordance with the democratic provisions of the law, stressing that the PDP is not ready, in any way, to cede this statutory provision to anybody no matter the threats.”

The party further warned that Nigeria cannot afford another unrest in the Niger Delta, especially as security operatives are grappling with worsening insurgency in the North East and prevailing daily violence and blood-letting in various parts of the country.

“Instead of resorting to violence, rigging and seeking forceful control, the APC should rather use the remaining days of its administration to make restitutions and seek forgiveness for all their atrocities and misrule, leading to the economic disaster and daily bloodletting which Nigerians have been painfully suffering in the last three and half years,” the party said.

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