Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, has inaugurated a 6-member panel of enquiry on the pre-and post election violence in Nembe local government area of the state and other parts of the state.
Thugs of the All Progressives Congress, (APC) ambushed and killed over 20 persons, and injured over 93 persons including bystanders during an aborted PDP Governorship rally in Nembe in November 13, 2019.
Governor Dickson who decried political violence and bringadage said those that wounded are receiving medical attention at designated hospital across the state.
The governor in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Fidelis Soriwei was quoted to have condemned the act while inaugurating the panel in Government House, Yenagoa.
He lamented that the armed militia men shot and mowed down PDP members and innocent bystanders indiscriminately with no resistance from security forces who
looked the other way.
He said it is the first time in the political history of the state that a campaign rally would be ambushed and party members mowed down in an unprovoked situation.
The Governor said that Oil pipeline surveillance contractors, Kodjo Sam and Gabriel Jonah with the backing of former governor of the state and Minister for State, Petroleum, Chief Timipre Sylva armed militia men to carry out the attack on innocent Bayelsans.
He wondered why after two weeks the assailants and their sponsors have not been arrested and prosecuted while commiserating with the families of those who died in the attack including the Outside Broadcast van driver of the state-owned radio station, Simon Onu.
“The Nigerian state has outsourced our territories in Bayelsa to criminals and warlords and the state is actually at a turning point.
“Nembe leaders need to know that they have set a record. Members of the opposition parties, particularly APC have been going round without any molestations and attacks. However, it is sad to note that members of the same party now turned around in Nembe to unleash violence on the campaign train of the PDP.” He said
The governor accused the security operatives particularly the Army of aiding and abetting criminality during the last charade that INEC and APC referred to as election.
The governor submitted that the election fell short of the global standard of free, fair and credible election.
Governor Dickson, who said that the panel was not intended to indict anyone noted that its term of reference includes, collating the number of the dead, their names and families and the number of buildings destroyed in the attack.
He said members of the panel were carefully selected to serve the state and charged them to do a thorough job with the report to be submitted in two weeks.
In an acceptance speech, chairman of the panel of enquiry, retired Commissioner of Police, Akpoebi Agberebi, described Governor Dickson as a peace loving leader who has promoted policies and programmes aimed at sustaining peace in the state.
He said that the attack in Nembe on 13 November 2019 would go in history as a dark day in the political history of Nigeria and Bayelsa in particular.
He thanked the governor for reposing confidence in members of the panel and assured that they would work diligently to ensure a comprehensive report is delivered and submitted.
The panel has as its chairman, retired Commissioner of Police, Akpoebi Agberebi, Vice Chairman, Dr Pabara Igwelle, Mrs. Dise Ogbise-Ehisere, Arch Bishop Jacob Akpiri, and one representative each from the Department of State Services and State Public Prosecution.