The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has expressed concern over the increased perpetration of violence by the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa State, saying that apart from having “a predominantly evil nature”, its hands have always been stained with blood.

The party was reacting to the recent spate of violence and bloodletting unleashed on members by the Bayelsa State Chapter of the APC in Yenagoa.

The PDP in a statement by its Bayelsa State Chairman, Cleopas Moses, after its emergency Executive Council (EXCO) meeting, said that recurring bloodshed in APC had become a threat to grassroots democracy and embarrassment to Bayelsans.

He said: “The fight for supremacy between the two warring factions of the APC, which led to the firing of arms and ammunitions on the streets of Yenagoa, is a clear fact that the APC plays politics of do-or-die. The recorded violence is an embarrassment to Bayelsans and a threat to grassroots democracy.

“For us, said the PDP is worried about the cases of violence which resulted in reported cases of deaths and destruction of Bayelsans, all in the disguise of Politics. Extreme violence has become a recurring decimal in almost all APC activities in the State vis-a-vis the APC 2015 governorship primaries, APC 2017 non-elective congresses and the attempted inauguration of their acting state chairman on August 18, 2017.

“These same characters have a predominantly evil nature which played itself out during the last Bayelsa State governorship elections where innocent people were killed in Silga, Ekeremor, Brass and other Local Government Areas, in their fight against the matchless candidate of the PDP, Henry Seriake Dickson.”

Moses therefore raised the alarm that the spate of political violence among APC members was an omnibus signal of what they could be planning for subsequent elections.

He therefore called on the Commissioner of Police and other security agencies not to relent in their efforts to ensure that the culprits were found and brought to justice in accordance with the laws of the land.

While reiterating the efforts of Governor Henry Seriake Dickson in sustaining harmony and peaceful co-existence of all citizens of the State, the PDP pleaded with the Governor and his team not to relent in their efforts “as it is a well known and established fact that security is expensive, but golden requirement for all departments of life.”

The party called on all members, supporters, followers and well-meaning Bayelsans to give their solidarity and allegiance to the leader of the party in the State, Henry Seraike Dickson, “as he takes the people to the Promised Land as ordained by God in 2018, 2019, 2020 and beyond.”

Moses called on PDP members to identify and shun divisive elements attempting to crop up in other to struggle for the state party leadership only for their selfish political interests.

According to him, Governor Dickson remains the only certified, approved and respected leader who knows and understands the political intrigues and strategies to defeat the APC in Bayelsa State, “having done so in the most vicious, antagonistic, provocative, oppressive and intimidating governorship elections ever witnessed in the young democracy of Nigeria in 2015.”

Moses disclosed that the entire Bayelsa State PDP EXCO, therefore, passed a vote of confidence on Dickson and his team, while calling on their party members to be law-abiding and go about their daily businesses in a peaceful manner.

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