The Bayelsa State government has condemned the violence that occurred at the All Progressives Congress, APC, secretariat in the state.
It said the incident that led to death of two persons, with several others injured and property worth millions of naira destroyed showed APC was “disgraceful and lawless.”
A statement by the Commissioner for Information, Jonathan Obuebite, described the fracas as a serious breach of theyk. existing peace in the state, barbaric and against all democratic and acceptable norms.
The statement observed that the APC has failed to conduct its affairs peacefully, since its inception in the state.
It pointed out that the party’s very first governorship primaries ahead of the 2015 elections witnessed the unfortunate incident of a serving governor being held hostage.
It further noted that the APC leadership and its supporters also “unleashed terror and violence on law abiding citizens of the state, especially in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area, which equally led to the untimely death of some persons during the 2015 governorship polls”
The state government called on the law enforcement agencies, “to investigate and prosecute the perpetrators of the recent outbreak of violence during the party’s non-elective congress in Yenagoa, the state capital, which led to the shooting, killing and maiming of innocent citizens.”.
The statement urged the Federal Government and the national leadership of APC to prevail on its officials in Bayelsa State to conduct themselves responsibly as their activities were becoming disgraceful and highly embarrassing to the government and the law abiding people of the state.
“It is a very sad commentary that the APC in Bayelsa State has turned itself to a lawless and violent organization, where its leaders and supporters resort to violence at every slight provocation, even for internal matters of the party that ought to have been handled with maturity and reasonable level of understanding”, the statement added.