Following the violence that occurred in the February 23rd presidential and National Assembly elections which claimed two lives in Oweikorogha community in Southern Ijaw local government area, the Bayelsa state Government has called on the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai to produce the soldiers who murdered the government house photographer, Mr Reginald Dei and the leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ward, Mr Seidougha Taribi.
Director of Strategic Communications to the Governor Chief Nathan Egba-Ologo said that the COAS has a responsibility to redeem the image of the Army by ensuring the arrest and trial of the soldiers who murdered Dei and Seidougha on Election Day.
He said the deceased were killed in the house of Taribi while they were waiting for the results of the election in their polling units several meters away from the polling unit where they voted.
” Buratai should be wary of tying the Army to the disgusting disposition of the Bayelsa APC to violence and criminality by taking the proactive step to investigate the circumstances leading to the murder of the Government House Photographer and the PDP Leader in Bayelsa”, he said.
According to him “the earlier narrative that the deceased were killed by soldiers in Army uniform would not stand anymore as the Publicity Secretary of APC, Mr Buokoribo Doifie, has confirmed in reports that a member of his party identified as Thankgod Deizigha led the soldiers to the residence where they were shot.”
He said that the Bayelsa state Government would adopt all lawful measures to ensure that those behind the heinous act are brought to justice.
He said, “The Bayelsa state Government is making a passionate appeal to the Chief Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, to investigate, identify and prosecute the soldiers who murdered a Government House Photographer, Mr Reginald Dei, and a Chieftain of the PDP, Mr Seidougha Taribi, on February 23, 2019 in Southern Ijaw.
“Contrary to our initial thinking that the gruesome murder was carried out by armed men in Army uniform, fresh facts have emerged that soldiers of the Nigerian Army killed the photo journalist and his friend in Southern Ijaw.
“The State Publicity Secretary of the APC, Mr. Doifie Buokoribo, said in a report carried by the Nation Newspaper of March 5, 2019, that an agent of the APC led the soldiers to the residence of Seidougha Taribi to kill the deceased during a phantom gun battle.
“We are of the strong view that the Nigerian Army under the leadership of Gen. Buratai has a responsibility to intervene and ensure investigation of this brazen act to redeem the image of the service.
“The Bayelsa state Government and Bayelsans would adopt all lawful means to seek justice in this brazen act of terror perpetrated against our citizens by a collusion of thugs and soldiers.”
