The Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson has warned militants in the state to desist from killing security operatives in the state.
Dickson while citing the killings of seven Naval and Joint Task Force code named Operation Pulo Shield personnel, along the creek of Nembe and Foropa community in Southern Ijaw Local Government Areas of the state stated such actions were projecting the state in a bad light.
The governor in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Daniel Iworiso-Markson stated the “unwarranted attacks and killings of the nation’s security personnel could trigger a repeat of the ugly incident that led to the 1999 Odi massacre in Kolokuma/Opokuma area of the state.”
Recall that the murder of 12 policemen by suspected militants near Odi, in Bayelsa State, led to the massacre of many people on November 20, 1999, by the Nigerian military at the predomitly Ijaw town.
Dickson, who described the killings as unfortunate, admonished the perpetrators and their collaborators to desist from such acts.
Stressing that the killings were putting innocent citizens and the Niger Delta region in state of fear, Dickson said, “Terrorism does not favour peace, neither can democracy express itself through violence.”