Bayelsa Clean Up : We meant to compliment Govt- APC

Timipre Sylva

The Bayelsa All Progressives Congress (APC) on Tuesday said that it embarked on evacuation of refuse heaps in Bayelsa to compliment the efforts of Bayelsa government.

It would be recalled that APC governorship candidate, Chief Timipre Sylva had on April 3 mobilised women and youths of the party to evacuate refuse in Yenagoa, Bayelsa capital.

The APC hired refuse trucks,  and other earth-moving equipment to carry out clean-up of the various areas where heaps of refuse had overtaken.

But following the  development, the Bayelsa State Government quickly mobilised contractors to clear the garbage.

The development saw the APC members and government contactors clearing the heaps of refuse side by side and left the state capital in a cleaner shape.

Chief Nathan Egba, Director, Media and Publicity, Sylva-Igiri Campaign Organisation said that the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) misunderstood its intentions for the clean-up.

“We had the intention of cleaning up Bayelsa of heaps of refuse to assist the efforts of the government who are visibly overwhelmed by the volume of refuse, we spent our resources to hire trucks, equipment.

“But our efforts were sabotaged as supporters of the ruling party attacked our volunteers and vandalized the trucks we hired, one of the truck was burnt down while our volunteers were beaten up by PDP members.

“We did not set out to embarrass the government, we were concerned about the public health implication and wanted to avert a looming epidemic with mounting refuse.

“But we understand their frustration, but that doesn’t justify their resorting to violence,” Egba said.

This is just as the Dickson campaign team, accused the APC of being responsible for the heaps of refuse in Yenagoa and being the one who attacked PDP surporters and stoned the convoy of the PDP candidate.

The PDP criticized  the APC for engaging in the sanitation, describing the exercise as “the deceitful style of campaign” by the opposition.

Reacting to the development, Dickson’s campaign team berated the APC to look for other  means of campaign.

Mr Jonathan Obuobite, Director of Media and Publicity for Dickson Campaign Organization had issued a statement accusing the APC of attacking PDP faithful and stonic the convoy of its candidate.

According to the statement, security details attached to Gov. Seriake Dickson brought the clash under control.

The Dickson campaign group advised Bayelsa people and other residents of the state to be wary of the antics of the APC members “who are desperate to grab power through the back door by advancing various dubious means.”