The All Progressives Congress (APC) chapter in Bayelsa State has requested that Mr. Douye Diri ease the siege on its members. The governor was charged by the party of violating the basic human rights of its members by employing the state police command and the judiciary.
The party remembered that the governor had instituted an ungodly and callous regime of persecution against APC members last week, using the state police command and the court, in a statement released on Monday in Yenagoa and signed by the state publicity secretary, Mr. Doifie Buokoribo. It stated that the Anti-Kidnapping Unit of the Nigerian Police had invited several party members to Yenagoa for an alleged “defamation of character/conduct likely to provoke breach of peace.”
According to the statement, the APC members were Mr. PreyeBagou, Mr. Mark-Charles Gborienemi, Mr. Funkebi Atabala, and Mr. Ebikopoemi Bobby Ugo. Mr. Bobby Ugo has already been jailed to Okaka Prison in Yenagoa for 18 days after being arrested even before he could accept the offer.
At a time when the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has just officially declared open electioneering activities leading up to a crucial general election, when the state government should actually be leading the charge towards peace, Mr. Buokoribo stated, “We consider this development completely preposterous, outlandish, and anarchic.
“The right of our members to freely and openly criticise the administration of Governor Diri is guaranteed under our democratic laws. No authority, however highly placed, has the lawful mandate to tamper with that right. If the governor feels offended, he is free to approach the courts for redress and not seek self-help using intimidatory tactics, in connivance with the police and the judiciary in the state.
“We know it as a matter of fact that defamation is a civil, not criminal, matter. It is worrying that the police in Bayelsa State have become Douye Diri’spoodle. More worryingly, we fail to understand the role of the Police Anti-Kidnapping Unit in this issue”.
The APC State Publicity Secretary added: “Besides, it is inhuman for Governor Douye Diri to persecute fellow Bayelsans at this time – or any other time. Most persons across the state are now displaced because of the ravaging flood. What is needed is empathy, kindness, and leadership.
“Having assumed the governorship of the state through the instrumentality of the Supreme Court, instead of the votes of our people, we would have thought Douye Diri will be humble. This persecution on our members clearly shows pettiness.
“The APC in Bayelsa State demands a quick halt to the siege laid on our members. Bayelsa State belongs to all of us.”