Posted by By FEMI FOLARANMI, Yenagoa on
Explosives suspected to be dynamites rocked the Green Movement Campaign (GMC) headquarters of Bayelsa State governor, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan at Ekeki, Yenagoa on Tuesday night, heightening tension ahead the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship primaries on Saturday.
Explosives suspected to be dynamites rocked the Green Movement Campaign (GMC) headquarters of Bayelsa State governor, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan at Ekeki, Yenagoa on Tuesday night, heightening tension ahead the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship primaries on Saturday.
Just a fortnight ago, dynamites were thrown into the state secretariat of the PDP by people suspected to have been aggrieved by the harmonization exercise of the State House of Assembly primaries, destroying the upper section of the building.
According to eyewitness account, the explosion in Gov Jonathan's campaign office did not kill anybody but it destroyed nearby houses, including some parts of the lower section of the building. The explosion caused pandemonium as people scampered for safety.
Two boys who allegedly all threw the dynamite were said to have come to the area on a motorcycle. A security man on duty at the complex, Mr. Akpi Enemieye, said that he was outside the gate when he heard a thunderous sound. He said the explosion shook the whole area, ripping open roofing sheets.
Also affected in the incident was a building near the complex owned by an 80-year-old man, Manson Agbadagara.
Agbadagara said, amid sobs, that he saw two boys who alighted from a commercial motorbike in front of his house and threw an object, which he said landed on the zinc and rolled down before it exploded.
'The sound nearly killed me as the thing shook the whole area. Look at my house. It has spoilt it. The boys mounted the Okada and ran away," he said.
The Director General of GMC, Chief Fyneman Wilson, who visited the bombed building, condemned the incident and blamed it on those he described as losers in the political equation playing out in the state. He called on the police to probe the incident and track down those involved.
The director of intelligence and security of the movement, Hon Powell Godknows, told Daily Sun that the attack was the second on the building. He described the incident as uncalled for, stressing that it was wicked for people to want to kill or destroy building because of politics. He noted that the campaign organization is aware that the opposition has been on the offensive, urging party members to be calm as Gov Jonathan had given assurance that elections in the state would be conducted in a peaceful atmosphere.
He said that the campaign organisation had concluded arrangements to beef up security in the area.
The State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Hafiz Ringim, who visited the area with divisional police officers, condemned the incident and assured the campaign organisation that the police would do everything to protect lives and properties in the state.
He also said investigations had commenced and that the police would not spare anybody.
In his reaction, Governor Jonathan said the explosion would not deter him from contesting for the 2007 elections to improve the lives of Bayelsa people.
Jonathan, who spoke after inspecting the damaged building, said that he remained 'unshaken and resolute in his mission to make Bayelsa peaceful."
He also lamented the dimension politics is taking in Nigeria, with people who feel they have lost out resorting to violence. He urged security agents to step up surveillance in the state.
Jonathan assured those living around the campaign organisation of adequate safety and promised that government would take care of the damages incurred.