Explosions rock Bayelsa

•Alaibe’s campaign office bombed
• LP candidate, Sylva in verbal war
BOMBERS yesterday stormed Ogbia, Bayelsa State.
When they left, the newly-painted office of the Labour Party (LP) governorship candidate for the April 16 election, Timi Alaibe, which was their target, was destroyed.
It is believed that the explosions came from dynamites thrown into the office complex in Ogbia Local Government Area of the oil-bearing state.
The explosions, according to the residents, occurred about 4 a.m. and destroyed the office slated to be opened yesterday. An adjourning make-shift house was also affected.
While Alaibe and the state chairman of the party, Adou Bobo, expressed concern over the continued sponsorship of violence on opposition parties in the state, they declared that no amount of threat or intimidation would make the LP candidate withdraw from the race.
In his reaction, Alaibe said: “The bombing at Ogbia, Bayelsa State is an unfortunate development. The Labour Party had scheduled to open that office today (yesterday) for formal campaign activities. And just before we could do that, we were informed of the ugly incident this morning.
“Politics is not about violence. Politics is about providing leadership. Politics is about providing for the people and not destroying the people. To date, Bayelsa remains the only state in Nigeria where political campaigns of opposition parties are bombed at will.
“Before I began campaigns, my house was bombed. When I arrived the state to begin the campaign, my supporters were attacked and killed. Everywhere we go, we are seen as a threat. I’m pleading with security agencies to get to the roots of this matter. Somebody must be held accountable for this. I believe in politics of issues and not politics of violence. Bloodshed will not move this state forward. Bayelsa belongs to all of us.”
But, the state government, through the Commissioner for Information, Orientation and Strategy, Nathan Egba, insisted that the explosions were orchestrated by Alaibe to attract media coverage and embarrass President Goodluck Jonathan and Governor Timipre Sylva.
The attack is coming few weeks after the multiple invasion of Alaibe’s country home in Opokuma community of Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area, which led to the killing of six of his supporters.
Yesterday, the state police command immediately drafted a detachment of anti-bomb squad to the scene while the residents were assured of their safety by the Police Public Relations Officer, Emokpai Eguavoen, and Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP).
Despite the attack, the leadership of the Timi Alaibe Campaign Organisation, led by its Deputy Director, and former Attorney-General of the state, Chief Thalford Ongolo, kicked off the launch of the campaign in Ogbia Local Government.
Ongolo said the state was yearning for a change and no amount of threat or intimidation could force Alaibe out of the race.
“I want to call on the people of Ogbia to take their destinies in their hands by voting out an oppressive government and rallying round the candidacy of Timi Alaibe. We condemn the politics of violence and advised politicians to centre their agenda on what they could offer the state.”
Bobo and the National Youth Leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Miriki Ebikibina, expressed concern over the incident and asked the presidency to intervene and prevail on the state government to stop its alleged attack on opponents.
To counter them, Egba said: “In confirmation of the claim of the Labour Party candidate to contest and embarrass the President in 2011, he has started his campaign in Ogbia Local Government council with orchestrated violence, knowing fully well that the ordinary opening of a campaign office will not attract enough media attention. They have once again introduced their favorite attention-grabbing technique with the detonation of explosives.
“Bayelsans thought we had seen the last of these tactics after the impeachment of Peremobowei Ebebi last year, but unfortunately, most of the experts in scare-mongering have congregated in the Labour Party with the avowed mission to rubbish all that the President is trying to achieve for the state. The government is calling on Bayelsa people to unite against this violent trend. Let us imbibe democratic norms and learn to be sportsmanly in our approach to politics so as to avoid ridiculing our state before the entire nation.”
In another development, the Timi Alaibe Campaign Organisation raised concerns over alleged attempts by the Sylva administration to rig the elections by buying off voters’ cards.
The group disclosed that part of the plan was to get teachers of primary and secondary schools in the state to submit the particulars of their cards through a staff audit directed by the state government.
A statement signed by the Campaign Director, Inatimi Rufus-Spiff, reads: “We also learnt that officials of the State Ministry of Education are expected to visit zonal education centres in the state next week, beginning with Community Secondary School, Igbogene”.
According to the statement, the development is “a desperate move to hang on to power by manipulating the electoral system” as a voter’s card is personal to the owner and not transferable.
But Ade Bakare, the Press Secretary to the Commissioner for Education, Josephine Ezonbodor, said the two-day teachers’ verification “has nothing to do with the forthcoming elections and teachers were not asked to submit their voters’ cards.”
Bakare explained on phone that the exercise was going on in all the eight local government areas of the state and that only particulars of employment, promotion and other relevant documents were required.

May God save the innocent.

All this, In the name of what?.