By Amos Odhe, Yenagoa
The Bayelsa State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governorship Campaign Council has called on the Inspector-General of Police and director-general of the Department of State Services to immediately invite a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Joshua MacIver, for questioning.
Chairman of the campaign council’s Publicity Directorate, Hon. Ayibaina Duba, in a statement issued in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital on Monday, said Mr. MacIver made inciting comments capable of truncating the peace of the state in a video now in circulation.
MacIver, who is running mate to his party’s disqualified governorship candidate, Chief Timipre Sylva, made the incendiary comments during a rally in Twon-Brass on Saturday.
The PDP campaign council claimed that in the video that has gone viral on social media, the former militant leader, “who broke jail after being sentenced for terrorism by a Federal High Court in Kaduna, urged the people to throw into the sea anyone that misbehaves on November 11 and ensure the person(s) dies.”
The campaign council condemned what they described as “MacIver’s thoughtless comment,” adding that it had the potential of throwing the state into anarchy before and during the November 11 governorship election.
Duba noted that the APC leader was “notorious for instigating political violence and that his comments only confirmed what Bayelsans generally know about the party’s plot to cause violence during the election.”
The ruling party recalled how the quasi-security outfit, Operation Famoutangbe, created when Chief Sylva was governor, in Gestapo-like manner “visited mayhem on hapless Bayelsans and political opponents in the state.”
It wondered if MacIver and his party were “having a dress rehearsal to again visit Famoutangbe on people of the state.”
PDP said under Governor Douye Diri, “peace has been fully restored in Bayelsa and the people now sleep with their eyes closed.
“But because the opposition had nothing good to offer the state, it continued to incite violence with MacIver’s recent comments the height of the party’s desperation to seize power at all costs.”
PDP restated its call on the security agencies to ensure the governorship poll was peaceful and devoid of interference.
It said the security agencies should perform their professional and non-partisan roles in elections and ensure anyone that breached the electoral process is brought to book.
It also urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to be transparent and ensure that the November poll is free, fair and credible.
Election is about the ballot and not the bullets, the PDP noted.
