Dickson visits family of PDP leader killed in electoral violence

Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, on Thursday visited the family of the late Seidougha Taridi, leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who was killed by gunmen in army uniforms during the last elections to condole with the family.

Dickson’s Special Adviser on Media Relations, Fidelis Soriwei, in a statement said the governor was accompanied in the visit by top officials of the Bayelsa State Government and the leaders of the Bayelsa State Council in the visit.

In the entourage of the Governor were the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Kombowei Benson; PDP State Chairman, Moses Cleopas; winner of Yenagoa/Kolokuma/Opokuma Federal Constituency Prof Steve Azaiki and winner of Bayelsa Central Senatorial District, Douye Diri.

Also on the entourage were Commissioner for Agriculture Doodei Week and Special Adviser on Chieftaincy Affairs Chief Douye Douglas-Naingba, among others.

Dickson said that the state government, the PDP and the state were saddened by the gruesome murder of the PDP Ward Leader in the community by men in Army uniform feared to be soldiers.

He described Taridi’s death as shocking and painful saying it was a needless case of cold-blooded murder of an innocent man, who was not involved in any incident near a polling unit but was killed in his own house in his toilet by soldiers.

He said that Taridi’s killing was not just cold-blooded but also a collective assault on the Bayelsa and her people.

He stressed the late Taridi was in his house when soldiers were invited to gun him down and a Government House Photographer, Reginald Dei, who survived the attack.

He assured the grieving family of the determination of the government to ensure that those who perpetrated the heinous acts were brought to justice.

The governor said that his administration inaugurated a Judicial Commission of Inquiry to formally investigate and document the violence that rocked the elections in parts of Bayelsa for posterity.

He said: “We grieve with all of you and the entire Oweikorogha community, the party and the entire state grieves with you because this gruesome cold blooded murder shouldn’t have happened.

“There was no need for it. He was not fighting with anybody, he was not armed in any way, was never near even a polling station, he was not by way near electoral materials.

“He was in his own house, in his parlour and people came, they were invited, soldiers were invited to gun him down in the privacy of his own home.

“This is not just a gruesome act of terminating the live of a promising young man, it is a collective assault on our state and that is why I have led this delegation to personally come to condole with you, his father, wife, children, brother and sisters and all other members of the Taribi family.

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“And we again state our resolve to bring the perpetrators of this gruesome murder, cold blooded murder to book in any way we can. I want to thank you all for your courage.”

Also speaking, family Spokesman, Mr, Temple Igunikeke, gave a detailed account of how the Taridi and the Government House Photographer were shot inside the house.

According to him, two men whose identities he gave as Ogili and Thankgod, led the men in army uniform to Taridi’s residence where the deceased was resting to carry out the cold-blooded murder.

Igunikeke, who spoke in the presence of the father and widow of the deceased, said Taridi and Dei were resting in the house after voting to await the outcome of the election when the two men led the assailants to the residence to shoot them.

He called on the government and the relevant agencies to investigate the gruesome killing of Taridi and the shooting of Dei, to ensure that those involved in the murder are brought to justice.

He said: “I wish to inform you that in which ever form they try to style the way they killed my nephew only one thing counts, the truth.

“We had finished elections and we were counting and there was no single event anywhere and as the leader that led us, he needed to rest a little and take back the votes to Oporoma and he was in his home with our dear brother, the photographer of government house .

“No single Oweikorogha man will attest to the fact that there was anything near what they have done, that was expected.

“Nobody was there, and, of course, he had the right to remain in his house and they came, Ogili and ThankGod manifested in the toga of the salient saying in the bible that the enemy came to kill,steal, and destroy.

“In your presence as the amiable Governor of this state that has taken us this far, I want to pledge before you that blood that cries for vengeance.

“Let the blood of Seidougha also cry for vengeance. I want to thank and bless you and the government for the second time that you have come here.”