Bayelsa state Governor Henry Seriake Dickson has said 12 people were killed and 93 others injured ahead of the just concluded governorship election in the state.
He also said his respect for former President Goodluck Jonathan remains intact despite insinuation from certain quarters that his alleged fiction with the former Nigeria leader was responsible for the ‘loss’ of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) and its candidate, Senator Douye Diri.
He said this Monday during an interaction with journalists in Abuja.
The governor who said he set up a committee to evaluate the situation, further stated that “The number of those injured in Nembe is 93 and 12 people were discovered to have been killed so far. Their offence was that they are PDP members loyal to PDP.”
He also said some thugs suspected to be members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) loyal to a top party chieftain(names withheld ) with base in Abuja, killed residents of Nembe town, saying the brutality visited on them was beyond imagination.
“They killed, beheaded them and tore out their stomachs, dumped them in water so that they won’t float. This was done some two to three days to election. Everybody in that community ran away. It was only the militia with the backing of some security agencies that were there. In the Southern Ijaw, the same thing happened,” the governor said.
While singling out the navy for being professional in their conduct during the fracas, the governor said the conduct of other security agencies were unprofessional.
On the insinuation that his ‘poor’ relationship with former president, Dr Jonathan, was responsible for the ‘loss’, the governor said it was beyond that.
He said , notwithstanding the insinuations and misgivings from certain quarters, “I still hold former President Jonathan, who remains my Oga (boss), in high esteem,” saying it’s some individuals that were trying to disrupt the long standing relationship he had with the ex-Nigerian leader.
Speaking on his administration’s achievements, the governor said prior to his assumption of office about eight years ago, he said the infant mortality rate was like that of Zamfara.
He, however, said, the trend had changed as the health facilities in the state had been upgraded to meet the growing health challenges of the people, particularly women and children.
