Former President of Nigeria, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan allegedly escaped assassination attempt by some gunmen in Bayelsa State.
The men who according to an unconfirmed report were suspected militants loyal to the All Progressives Congress in the state, drove into his convoy.
The men were reported to have driven into a short motorcade conveying the former President from Julius Berger bridge area.
He was allegedly trailed and chased to the entrance of his Yenagoa private residence in Kpansia area.
The report said the gunmen were overpowered by the security operatives attached to the former President and taken to the Bayelsa State Police Command for further investigation.
Effort to reach the former President associates for confirmation and responses proved abortive at the time of filing this report.
Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, on Wednesday, explained how he escaped from the Samson Siasia Stadium, Yenagoa, venue of the 2015 governorship primary of the All Progressives Congress.
Governor Oshiomhole
The governor was reportedly held hostage for several hours during the exercise, which was marred by violence.
Oshiomhole, who made the allegation during a press briefing on Wednesday in Benin however, accused a former governor of Bayelsa State and chieftain of the APC, Mr. Timipriye Sylva, of hijacking the primary.
He also dismissed media reports that the party’s primary was held, wherein Sylva, who is also an aspirant, emerged as the party’s candidate.
Oshiomhole, who said Sylva threatened his life and that of other members of the committee, challenged the Bayelsa ex-governor to produce his Certificate of Return presented to him by the party if he truly won in a free and fair primary.
The governor alleged that the electoral process was hijacked by thugs, acting on the instruction of the former governor, who he said had insisted that the exercise be conducted without accreditation.
He added that he had to call for help from Abuja, leading to the intervention of the Joint Task Force, who rescued him out of the venue, after several hours of being at the mercy of the hoodlums.
Oshiomhole stated, “I was appointed with six other members from the APC to conduct the primary election of the governorship election in Bayelsa State. The exercise took place yesterday (Tuesday) and somehow, thugs took over the sports complex, where the exercise was to take place.
“They practically prevented the actual delegates from participating and as a result, we could not proceed with the exercise. The committee was virtually held hostage, including my humble self. This time, they were supervised unfortunately by one of the aspirants, the former governor of the state, Timipriye Sylva, who said to my face and to the committee that we could not leave the venue of the conference unless we conduct the exercise without accreditation, as prescribed by the national secretariat.
“It is important that we state clearly that the national secretariat has adopted a standard guideline for the conduct of governorship primary and this guideline were used effectively in Kogi State and it produced a candidate in which all the aspirants were quite happy with.
“The key issues in this guideline, as handed down by the party, is that delegates, as contained in the list, have to be identified either though the Permanent Voter Card or the National Identity Card or international passport.
“This was to ensure that proper accreditation was done because the integrity of an election rests primarily on the integrity of the accreditation process; once the accreditation suffers any defect, it affects the entire exercise. As they say, you cannot build something on nothing.”
Oshiomhole, who wondered why the former governor insisted on having his way other than that prescribed by the national leadership of the APC, said, “Whereas all the aspirants agreed with this guideline, it is only Sylva that did not agree with it. He rejected this mode of accreditation and chose to accuse the national secretariat of formulating the guideline to frustrate his ambition.
“Every effort made to reassure him and direct his attention to the fact that same guidelines have been used and that they are standard guidelines that will be used in future elections fell on deaf ears.
The Edo State Governor added, “He insisted that we cannot leave the place unless we are ready to conduct the election without recourse to accreditation, as stipulated by the party and, of course, I was not in a position to amend the guideline, nor was I ready to submit to his intimidation.”
He said that when it became clear that he (Sylva) had mobilised thugs in connivance with the police, the thugs found their way into the stadium, without accreditation, “and insisted that we must conduct the election based on their own rules.”
Oshiomhole said, “Sylva insisted that it is the State Secretariat and not the national body that should conduct the primary and that it was wrong for the national body to conduct primaries without involving the state leadership of the party and therefore, as far as he was concerned, we must proceed with the election without complying with the guidelines of the national secretariat.
“When it became clear that our lives were under threat, I had to call Abuja to prevail on the Joint Task Force to provide me with security to enable me to leave the venue of the primary because thugs had effectively blocked the gates under the instructions of Sylva.
“I have since forwarded our report to the National Secretariat namely that the primary could not be conducted because of these and several other malpractices.”
Oshiomhole said many people were apprehended with fake or cloned Permanent Voter Card, which they wanted to use to replace the actual delegates and they were handed over to the Police.
He said curiously, the Police released those who were so arrested and allowed them to continue to harass and intimidate, not only the committee members but other aspirants.
A former Security Adviser to the Bayelsa State Government, Chief Richard Kpodoh weekend said the Boko Haram campaign of terror in some parts of the Northern states is targeted at stopping President Goodluck Jonathan from declaring his intention to run for second term in 2015.
According to Kpodoh, though the decision to declare or not to declare to run in the 2015 Presidential election lies with President Goodluck Jonathan, the dangerous tactics of using insecurity as a tool of blackmail against the rising profile of President Goodluck Jonathan will not hold waters as he will be forced by the peace loving populace to run for second term in office.
Chief Kpodoh, who served under Goodluck Jonathan administration in Bayelsa State as Senior Special Assistant on Strategy and Policy Monitoring, in a statement in Yenaoa urged President Goodluck Jonathan to shun the dangerous antics of opposition politicians through the sponsored killings by the Boko Haram and declare for re-election.
He said:”There is no better time for the President to declare than now. We have studied elected presidents from the time of the second republic with Shehu Shagari, and the military era with Olusegun Obasanjo, Ibrahim Babangida, Buhari and the elected Olusegun Obasanjo and discovered that the style of administration of Goodluck Jonathan in spite of provocation and temptation, has remained calm, cool and collected.”
“Under past Presidents, the opposition claim they were bold and decisive could not be proved. Many paid oppositions and genuine critics have lambasted, without facts, some policies of the Jonathan administration and nothing violent and deadly happened to them. The so called bold civilian administrations of Obasanjo and the military era of Buhari and others would have boldly dealt with opposition.
“Some of us embarked on criticism against Jonathan administration and nothing evil happened to us.The kind of utterances against Jonathan has never been accommodated by any administration in this country. It is not weakness but an administration style that has human feelings and the one that believe in the unity of the country.”
Chief Kpodoh noted that though the Northern leadership have been at the fore front of criticism against President Goodluck Jonathan, they have failed to accept that the style of Northern leadership have failed and President Goodluck Jonathan should not be blamed for it.
He added: “the Yoruba leaders led by late Chief Obafemi Awolowo believed in the future of his people and created free education policy that has created millions of educated and creative youths.
“Even in the South-east, Igbo leaders allowed education and backed it up with empowerment programme through trading and settlement. In the South-South, empowerment and education led to various questions and improvement from the leaders. There are many businessmen to show for it. How many of such industrious youths were created by the Northern leaders?”
“Instead, what they have created is the league of homeless youths known as Alimajiris. They prefer to feed them daily and hand them dangerous weapon to fight.The Northern successful politicians are interested in building a dynasty of Alimajiris. Is this caused by Jonathan?
“A check on the ownership of oil blocs will show that 60 per cent are Northerners. Let the North leave Jonathan alone. They should solve their problem themselves.”
Chief Kpodo called on President Goodluck Jonathan to shun the antics of Boko Haram and its sponsors and declare his intention to run in 2015.
“What have they done that they have never done. They have killed innocent people in Nyanya, Jos, Kano and many others in order to stop Jonathan at declaring for 2015.”
Jonathan should call the bluff of the Boko Haram and it’s sponsors and declare to run.Or we will declare for him.”
“Instead of sponsoring these deadly onslaught against the people of this country, the sponsors of Boko Haram should invest the fund in campaigns and strategies to contest against the monumental achievements of President Goodluck Jonathan.
“If they claim the worst will happen if Jonathan declares, we want to remind them that nobody or region is born to rule. Everyone or tribes fought in the Nigerian Civil War to keep the nation together. To keep Nigeria one was a task done by all Nigerians. The Ijaws fought and Jasper Adaka Boro died amongst many others.”
