With the history of violence during Bayelsa elections still fresh, some of the governorship aspirants of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) including former Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NNDC), Chief Timi Alaibe, and Dr. Chris Osaisai among others appear to have become panicky as the September 3, 2019 primaries of the Party draws nearer.
Leader of the Association of Concerned Bayelsa Professionals, Chief Jasper Timiebi said in a statement on Thursday that the aspirants have devised a plot to cause premeditated violence and instability in Bayelsa with the intent to arm twist national leadership of the PDP to move the primaries to Abuja or the neighboring Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Timiebi further alleged that intelligence at the disposal of the group revealed that the aspirants are deploying their men to plant bombs, engage in sporadic shootings, to create a non existent threat of violence to actualize their plot to move the primaries outside Bayelsa contrary to the stipulations of the law.
He said that the ACBP, a body of professionals across the eight local government areas of the state, was concerned about the increasing desperation occasion by blackmail and the evil plot to unleash mayhem and killings in Bayelsa just to achieve a satanic plot.
He stressed that the aspirants behind the evil plot against Bayelsa and her people were worried about the influence of Governor Henry Seriake Dickson who has led the Restoration Team of the PDP since 2012.
Timiebi recalled that the said aspirants instigated and indeed sponsored litigations to frustrate the decision of the PDP led government to conduct the last local government elections, which they failed.
According to him, when the Government vacated all the cases numbering five that were instituted against the conduct of the polls in Abuja, Yenagoa and other cities, the aspirants decided to opt for a second option to frustrate the participation of the elected council officials in the primaries.
He insisted that the ACBP which monitored the election in the state observed that it went well with its outcome showing the influence of the governor in the state.
Timiebi said that the Campaign Organisation of one contestants, Osaisai wrote a petition dated August 10, 2019, to the National Chairman òf the PDP, in which he claimed that there were threats to the peaceful conduct of the gubernatorial primaries in Bayelsa.
According to him, the petition signed by Dr. Ebieri Jones, is kicking against the inclusion of the elected chairmen and councillors as delegates in the primaries as provided for in the PDP constitution.
He enjoined all the aspirants to play by the rule and embrace the repeated slogan of former President Jonathan that nobody’s ambition is worth the life of a single Bayelsan.
