Nembe Killings: Dickson vows to hunt down killers
Olatomiwa Ajigi
Bayelsa State Governor, Hon. Seriake Dickson on Tuesday said his administration would work with security operatives to smoke out the killers of the three soldiers in Nembe from their hideout and bring them to justice.
Dickson made the vow during a live radio interview in Yenagoa, stressing that, the government would not condone a situation whereby “the state would be used as a launching pad for violence and criminal activities.”
Condemning the incident in Nembe, he said the government would convene a meeting with the traditional ruler, local government council chairman and other major stakeholders in Nembe to deliberate on security issues in the area.
He also urged traditional rulers to identify more with their people and liaise with security agencies, towards curbing security challenges in their domains, pointing out that, th government was collaborating with security operatives to unravel those responsible for the attack on the military personnel.
His words: “Our duty is to work with the security agencies to ensure that the perpetrators do not rest and are followed up and hunted down. They must face justice. Maybe, from this incident we will also get a clue as to what happened last year and also some of the breaches of security in that part of our state.
“We condemn the incident in Nembe. The military high command understands that, this was an isolated murder and has nothing to do with the peace-loving people of Ogbolomabiri, Nembe, in te Nembe local government area. I want to thank the military commander on the ground for that understanding.
“As soon as the incident occurred, I asked the deputy governor of the state, who incidentally is from the area, to proceed and his visit gave us further insight and proved to be very helpful in dousing tension and apprehension. The Commander of Operation Delta Safe was physically on the ground and I want to thank him and all the various officers for the steps they took to reassure the law-abiding people of the area concerned.”
“As a government, we have ignited our systems; our community information dissemination systems and the security agencies are all working together to unravel the true identity of the person or persons who carried out the dastardly act so that we can bring them to justice.”
“I will be summoning the traditional ruler of the area and the chairman of the council and after that i hope to have a meeting with critical players in the area to discuss the security development in that area.”
Governor Dickson who assured that Bayelsa remains one of the most peaceful states in the country in spite of militant issues in the Niger Delta, pointed out that Nembe area had nothing to do with the killings as it was an isolated incident.