Bayelsa killings: PDP accuses Buhari of shielding Lokpobiri

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has observed with dismay some recent activities of the Minister of State for Agriculture, Sen. Heineken Lokpobiri, in Bayelsa State and some Riverine communities in the neighbouring Delta.

We are disturbed that Lokpobiri has remained true to himself as he continues to maintain a sordid reputation that seems inseparably linked to the horrors of violence in Bayelsa State.

Only recently, the Governor òf Bayelsa State, Honourable Henry Seriake Dickson, alerted the President, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, the security community and indeed Nigerians to the dangerous activities of Lopkobiri and other APC chieftains, which without doubt are inimical to peace, security and development of our dear state.

Ordinarily, Nigerians who are agitated and troubled by the grave allegation would have expected a reassuring response from somebody of the status of a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. However, Lokpobiri’s response has only deepened the worry about the specter of violence being masterminded by him and his cohorts in Bayelsa.

His Defence, at best, cuts the image of a guilty man in desperation to reconcile contradictions with a contrived appearance of innocence!

In his pitiable response to the governor’s claim that he was behind the heinous activities of a deadly militant, Kareowei, who was fingered for perpetrating heinous activities at the waterways of Ekeremor and some communities Delta State, Lokpobiri denied ever meeting him.

Obviously prodded by his stained conscience, Lokpobiri lied that the militant leader (Kareowei), even threatened him at Ekeremor by shooting into the river when he (Lokpobiri) visited home in January

This explanation and the contradiction in Lokpobiri’s Defence only strengthens the suspicion of complicity in acts of destabilization against the state.

Rather than face the allegation against him and his failure to exploit the opportunity of his position to improve the lot of Bayelsans, Lokpobiri went further to cast aspersions on the Government where he claimed that efforts had not been made to develop the state.

Of course nothing can be farther from the truth!

The PDP can say authoritatively that the resources of Bayelsa have not been better managed any time than under this administration. In fact, it would take a mind that is blinded by hate, malice and mischief to claim ignorance of the screaming developmental revolution in Bayelsa. The multiple projects dotting the Bayelsans developmental space are the answers to the pathetic lies being spewed by the Minister.

As a party, we can only call Lokpobiri’s attention to the construction of the Sagbama-Ekeremor Road which sprouted into concrete reality 40 years after it was conceived, from the difficult terrain of Sagbama and Ekeremor?

As a Minister of State for Agriculture, Lokpobiri has failed to attract any developmental project to improve the lots of the people of Bayelsa! It is a shame that all he has done to remind the citizens of his presence is the orchestration of violence and other acts against the prosperity of the state.

The party, therefore called on President Muhammadu Buhari to arrest Lokpobiri and act on information at their disposal about his complicity in arming criminal elements in Bayelsa. The President and those in charge of security of this nation should not ignore the alarm raised by the a governor about the dangerous activities of the Minister. Not do so because of political affiliation would be a deliberate disservice to our people.