Alleged sponsoring of Bayelsa killings is figment of governor’s imagination – Minister

The Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Heineken Lokpobiri, has lashed out at Bayelsa Governor, Seriake Dickson, over allegations of involvement in cases of sponsored killings and unholy romance with militants.

Lokpobiri, in a statement via electronic mail, described the governor’s allegations as ‘cheap blackmail and ‘character assassination’ against his person.

Dickson had, during a transparency briefing held last Thursday at the  Alamieyeseigha Banquet Hall, Yenagoa, accused Lokpobiri and Sylva of sponsoring and arming militants and criminals in the state.

But the Minister said the accusation by the governor that he purchased arms and equipment for the militants were a figment of the governor’s imagination, insisting that he did not have anything to do with militants.

He said the theatrics of Dickson was a dance of the absurd on the misfortunes of the people of the Ndoro community in particular, and Bayelsa in general.

He said the open attack launched against him by Dickson was a display of the governor’s penchant for abusing eminent leaders of the Ijaw nation and his trademark of politics of “blackmail and character assassination.”

“As a matter of fact, the people of Bayelsa State and indeed the Ijaw nation know me and my pedigree so well and do not need any response from me to discern the truth in this regard.

“That I was with my kith and kin at Ekeremor from December 31, 2017 to January 2, 2018 to celebrate the New Year with a football match, wrestling contest and fanfare made Governor Dickson claim that he had evidence that the militant, Kareowei, and his killers were in Ekeremor, celebrating with me, is not only false but wicked and most ungodly.

“The same militant even came to threaten me on the eve of the New Year and fired some rounds at Rivers before zooming off. Interestingly, I shared my thoughts on the incident with one of our most respected security officers on my way to Abuja for a meeting with the President and the Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria at the Presidential Villa on the 3rd of January, 2018.

“The accusation of the purchase of arms and equipment for the militant is also a figment of the imagination of Dickson. I do not have anything to do with the militant and I have never met him.”

Lokpobiri described the claim of alleged underperformance against him as a Federal Minister as petty and preposterous.

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