Bayelsa government house photographer shot on elections day, dies

Ijaw group expresses concern over killings

Bayelsa Government House Photographer, Reginald Dei, who was allegedly shot by men in Army uniform in Oweikorogha, Southern Ijaw Local Government Area during the last Presidential and National Assembly elections is dead.

A statement by Director, Corporate Communications, Governor’s Office, Nathan Egba-Ologo, disclosed that the photographer died after battling the lethal wounds from the gunshots in a Yenagoa hospital on Sunday night.Dei was shot alongside a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader in Oweikorogha Community, Seidougha Taribi, in controversial circumstances at his residence.

While Dei was initially feared dead, he, however, survived the attack until Sunday night, but Taribi had died on the spot. Egba-Ologo called on the relevant authorities to investigate activities of the various security agencies in order to bring the culprits of the dastardly act to book.

However, an Ijaw group, the Embasara Foundation, has expressed concern over what it described as the senseless killings in Ijaw communities of Rivers and Bayelsa states during the Presidential and National Assembly elections.

Addressing journalists at a media briefing in Yenagoa, its interim Spokesman, Ayakeme Whisky cautioned that unless the presidential order to shoot ballot box snatchers is retracted, there might be more election related killings in Ijaw land.

“We wish to express our concern and anger over the senseless killings of innocent persons, an action that has put the Abonnema Community in Akuku Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State in particular and other Ijaw towns, especially Oweikkorovha town in Southern Ijaw Council of Bayelsa State on edge.

“We have it on good authority that the primary cause of this ugly episode in Ijaw land was the reckless infiltration of Abonnema Community by political thugs, aided by the military to gain advantage during the February 23, 2019 polls,” he said.