Bayelsa State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to arrest Heineken Lokpobiri, Minister of State for Agriculture, Daily Posts reports.
Bayelsa state governor, Seriake Dickson had accused Lokpobiri and former governor ,Timipre Sylva, of sponsoring mayhem in some parts of the state and some riverine communities in the neighbouring Delta.
PDP state chairman, Chief Moses Cleopas, in a statement, said the party was disturbed that Lokpobiri continues to maintain a sordid reputation that seems inseparably linked to the horrors of violence in Bayelsa state.
“Only recently, the governor òf Bayelsa state, Seriake Dickson, alerted the president, the security community and indeed Nigerians to the dangerous activities of Lopkobiri and other APC chieftains, which without doubt are inimical to peace, security and development of our dear state”, he said.
“Ordinarily, Nigerians who are agitated and troubled by the grave allegation would have expected a reassuring response from somebody of the status of a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. However, Lokpobiri’s response has only deepened the worry about the specter of violence being masterminded by him and his cohorts in Bayelsa.
“His defence, at best, cuts the image of a guilty man in desperation to reconcile contradictions with a contrived appearance of innocence! In his pitiable response to the governor’s claim that he was behind the heinous activities of a deadly militant, Kareowei, who was fingered for perpetrating heinous activities at the waterways of Ekeremor and some communities Delta state, Lokpobiri denied ever meeting him.
“Obviously prodded by his stained conscience, Lokpobiri lied that the militant leader (Kareowei), even threatened him at Ekeremor by shooting into the river when he (Lokpobiri) visited home in January. This explanation and the contradiction in Lokpobiri’s Defence only strengthens the suspicion of complicity in acts of destabilization against the state.”
The party accused the minister of failing to use his position to improve the lot of Bayelsans, alleging that he has used his time in office to cast aspersions on the state government.
It added that it is a shame that all Lokpobiri has done is remind the people of his presence in the orchestration of violence and other acts against the progress of Bayelsa state.
