Hoodlums invade legislative sitting, attack councillors in Bayelsa NEWS

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Hoodlums invade legislative sitting, attack councillors in Bayelsa

By AdvocateNews on 21/01/2021

Scores of hoodlums on Wednesday attacked councillors of Sagbama Local Government Area of Bayelsa State during legislative sitting.

The attack which caused tension in the council was said to have left some persons injured.

It was learnt that the attack was not unconnected with the invitation of the principal staff of the council by the councillors as part of their oversight functions.

The hoodlums were said to have stormed the council secretariat with cutlasses, locally-made guns and other weapons.

Leader of the council’s legislative arm, Mr. Ebikake Dickson, confirmed the attack, claiming they were hooligans loyal to the Chairman of the LGA, Embeleakpo Alale.

He said they swooped on them while sitting and disrupted their session with impunity.

Dickson said: “Last Wednesday, I called for sitting. In our sitting, we resolved to invite principal officials of the council to submit their comprehensive documents for us to do our oversight functions.

“But Wednesday, when we got to the council secretariat, we saw some strange faces. We wondered who invited them to the secretariat. We also saw the Chief Security Officer (CSO) to the Chairman giving instructions to the hooligans.

“We overheard some of them saying they were acting on instructions and that they would deal with anybody that misbehaved. Some of them went to where the Ward 5 councillor parked her car and ordered the driver to leave. In the process, they attacked and injured the driver.

“When we saw that the problem was getting out of hand, we called the President of the youth of Sagbama to come to our rescue. When they came, the CSO blocked the council gate. The youths engaged in a scuffle with them and some youths were injured.”

He said it was the intervention of the youths and the police from area command that saved their lives.

“Our lives are in danger. From now till the end of our tenure, if anything happens to any of us, the public should know where to beam their searchlight on,” Dickson stated.

But the Chairman of the council, Embeleakpo Alale, said the attack was perpetrated by unidentified hoodlums.

Alale, who posted his reaction on his Facebook wall, called for calm, saying he had ordered a full-scale investigation into the incident.

He said he had no rift with the councillors and did not have any reason to disrupt legislative sitting.

Alale, who said Sagbama is peaceful, warned rumour mongers to desist from trying to smear his character and those of the councillors.

Posted 21/01/2021 01:23:28 AM

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