PDP accuses Buhari, APC of foisting siege mentality on Bayelsa

Ahead of 2019 general elections, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) of trying to foist a siege mentality on Bayelsa State.

Addressing a press conference yesterday in Abuja, National Publicity Secretary of PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, warned the Buhari-led federal government and the APC to immediately steer clear of Bayelsa State as their continued onslaught and siege on the state would spell doom on the nation.

He stated: “It is no longer news that the APC, for obvious reasons, has been bent on forcefully taking over the control of oil rich Bayelsa and other littoral states, for which it now seeks to turn them into theaters of war, with the support of certain individuals in control of federal apparatus of power.

The party alerted Nigerians of “the current design to use security agencies, particularly the police to browbeat the people, foist a siege mentality on the state, trigger confusion and violence; then create an impression of security emergency with a view to use such as justification for a coordinated invasion, attack and annexing of political structures of the state for President Buhari and the APC ahead of the 2019 general elections.  
 
The PDP claimed: “In the bid to forcefully seize control of Bayelsa State, the APC is attempting to convert the Police into its violent militant wing, leading to the violations of rules of engagement and putting security agencies on collusion course with the people despite potential bloody consequences.
 
“It may interest Nigerians to know that, in its desperation, the APC has directly influenced the Inspector General of Police into posting eight different Commissioners of Police to Bayelsa State within the space of the last three months just to destabilise the state.

“Some of the Police Commissioners spent less than a week before being pulled out of the state by the police authorities that have unfortunately acceded to the demands of the APC on the deployment of police chiefs to Bayelsa State.”

The PDP spokesman alleged that the change of guard is part of the plan to compromise security architecture of the state and by extension rig the election for President Buhari in 2019.
 
Ologbondiyan also said that the party is aware of series of meetings in Abuja involving certain cabinet ministers, two particular Presidency aides, some APC leaders, some top security officers and certain compromised officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), including a close relation of President Buhari, where plots to destabilise Bayelsa State were hatched and orders handed to the police.
 
“We have documentary evidence of these meetings and will not hesitate to make them public if the APC fails to steer clear of Bayelsa state,” he said.