The Bayelsa State Governor, Hon. Henry Seriake Dickson, has frowned at the deploying of force by Senator Heineken Lokpobiri to secure the Peoples Democratic Party ticket for the Bayelsa-West Senatorial District, with misleading information and outright forgery of party documents.
A statement issued on Monday by by Seriake’s Chief Press Secretary, Daniel Iworiso-Markson, said the Governor sounded the warning when he visited the scene of a clash between rival supporters of the winner of the party’s primaries, Evangelist Foster Ogola, and incumbent Senator, Heineken Lokpobiri, who is challenging the candidacy of Evangelist Ogola in court.
He warned that the government will deal decisively with anybody or group of persons, no matter how highly placed, that takes the law into their hands.
Reports have it that supporters of Ogola were irked when the Judge, who had earlier been petitioned over his alleged lopsided handling of the matter, went ahead to fix hearing and judgement for Monday without proper notification to both parties, even as the matter has been moved away from his court.
Dickson, who visited the scene of the clash in the company of some heads of security agencies, condemned the action of Senator Lokpobiri for manipulating the judicial process for judgement to be passed in his favour, without the knowledge of the other party in the matter.
He advised the judiciary not to allow itself to be used by desperate politicians to perpetrate injustice, capable of causing a breach of the peace, as was experienced on Monday between the rival supporters.
Lokpobiri had also allegedly employed the services of thugs to disrupt the National Assembly primaries of the PDP held in Sagbama on December 7, 2014, but for the presence security agencies, who acted timely to stop them.