The Bayelsa State chapters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have disagreed on allegations by the PDP that thugs loyal to the opposition party attempted to assassinate one of its youth leaders, Bobolayefa Owoupele.
The Senator Douye Diri Campaign Organisation, in a statement by its Director, Media and Publicity, Jonathan Obuebite, claimed that armed APC thugs launched an attack on Owoupele at a car park in Opolo, around 8am in Yenagoa .
But in a swift reaction, the state Publicity Secretary of the APC, Doifie Buokoribo, asked Obuebite and the party to look inwards insisting that the incident was PDP’s family affair.
Obuebite said that the thugs inflicted deep bottle injuries in the head, neck and arm of Owoupele, who is a Special Adviser to the governor in Youth Matters, while threatening him with a gun.
He expressed deep worry over what he described as the penchant of the APC leadership and their supporters in Bayelsa for violence and bloodletting adding that the Governor’s Aide was lying critically ill at the Hospital in Yenagoa.
He called on the Nigeria Police, the Directorate State Service and other security agencies to investigate those behind the dastardly act with a view to bringing the perpetrators to book.
He said persons, who witnessed the attack said the thugs were putting on fez caps and tea shirts of the APC, adding that the alleged assassins asked the injured Aide if he was the one the governor asked to mobilise youths against them.
He said: “The armed thugs numbering five who were wearing branded t-shirts òf the APC, and the party’s face cap, laid an ambush for Owoupele at a car wash at Opolo, Yenagoa, where he was attacked around 8am on Thursday.
“We wish to condemn in the strongest possible terms, the primitive penchant of the APC in Bayelsa State for needless aggression and violence as their strongest point in the ongoing political contest in the state.
A political party with a genuine desire for the development of the society would place the requisite emphasis on the sanctity of human life rather than the execution of a barbaric plot to spread paranoia in the society a month to the gubernatorial election”.
But Buokoribo, who is also the Secretary, Media and Publicity Committee, APC Governorship Campaign Council, described the allegation as reckless, irresponsible and provocative.
He said: “We have read a statement from the Senator Douye Diri Campaign Organisation falsely accusing our party of involvement in an alleged assassination attempt. We deny the accusation with all the force at our command.
“We consider the accusation reckless, irresponsible and provocative. It is unthinkable that any true APC with wear APC-branded T-Shirt and cap to embark on such a nefarious act.
‘’We insist that if indeed there was an assassination attempt on an aide of Governor Dickson, it is a PDP family affair. Our party should not be dragged into it”.
