A non-governmental organisation, Grassroots Coalition for Democracy and Good Governance, has lamented the sponsoring of violence, kidnappings and insecurity in Bayelsa State by desperate politicians.
The group, which described as “dangerous, unethical and undemocratic,” the unfolding criminal scenario in the state, said those behind the dastardly act were meant to discredit the government in order to score cheap political points.
Spokesperson, GCDGG, Andakuro Ikporor, said in a statement on Saturday that intelligence reports at their disposal revealed that some highly placed Bayelsans, had vowed to truncate the existing peace in parts of the state ahead of the forthcoming governorship elections.
Part of the ploys of the desperate politicians, Ikporor said, were to resort to issuing threat messages to intimidate perceived political opponents.
He called on the people to resist such threats, urging parents, guardians and community leaders to prevail on their children, wards and youths not to allow themselves to be used by desperate politicians to foment trouble.
Ikporor said the coalition, working in collaboration with the security agencies, had “uncovered plans by these persons to recruit a special squad of youths, that will visit the support bases of the PDP to intimidate its followers.
“Also, they are poised to instill fear in them as well as coerce them to vote for their preferred candidate in the governorship polls.”
He urged Bayelsans to be wise and not succumb to blackmail and intimidation, stressing that such brand of politics had since become anachronistic and unfashionable and should be rejected in its entirety.