Chiefs accuse PDP, Diri of plan to introduce thugs, militants

Nathan Tamarapreye, Yenagoa

The Opu-Nembe Council of Chiefs has raised the alarm over a plot by the Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to return the reign of terror to the local government area ahead of the forthcoming governorship election.

The council in a statement on Tuesday signed by its Chairman, Chief Yusuo Theo-Iruo, said the governor and the party were planning to invade and overrun Nembe with their thugs and militants using a scheduled campaign as a cover.

The council said known armed men, cultists and terrorists, who fled the communities when the Inspector-General of Police SWAT’s team entered the community for a peace mission, were being readied by PDP for a comeback to unleash violence on the people ahead of the poll.

The council said Nembe had been peaceful since IGP’s team liberated the area from the shackles of violence and that they would not stand Akimbo and watch any desperate candidate use the people as a canon folder for election victory.

The Nembe’s monarch said had continued to enjoy peace following the presence of the IGP’s team and would not in any way return to the path of violence.

The council in its statement said: “We are reliably informed of a sinister plot to reintroduce thugs and militant elements into Opu Nembe during the planned ‘Campaign’ of the PDP in Nembe. The campaign is to serve as a cover for the invasion of Opu Nembe.

“These armed men, some of whom were the characters who terrorized, maimed and ripped the humanity off our people were the same elements expelled from Nembe when the Inspector General of Police’s SWAT team bravely liberated Nembe.

“Nembe is now just getting back to normal after two years of bondage in the hands of renegades under the sponsorship of the State government.

While we cannot express our joy in the peace our communities and people currently enjoy, we do so still with some modesty bearing in mind the steep, expensive journey that brought us here.

“We state categorically that we will resist and condemn any move to get pseudo-security men into Nembe to cause destabilization just to favour any of the parties contesting the imminent gubernatorial elections in the state.

“The lives of our people, the intellectual tranquillity of our towns, the sanity of our children and the resourcefulness of our women cannot be gambled with on the table of ghoulish ambitions.

“The IGP’s team, which liberated us and has kept the peace thus far, is on ground and life has returned to Nembe. Peace has been restored and markets are filled up. What we say is never again and that this peace which is originally quintessential of our great people, must remain”.