The Ijaw Youth Congress (IYC) has condemned Tuesday’s attack on former President Goodluck Jonathan’s home at Otueke, Bayelsa State, during which a soldier on guard duty there was killed is highly condemnable.
Barrister Roland Pereotubo Oweilaemi, IYC President, Worldwide, in a statement made available to NEXT EDITION maintained that security agencies should go after the attackers, saying that “the perpetrators of that dastardly act should not go unpunished. All security agencies should be on desk to fish out those hoodlums.”
Some gunmen reportedly attacked Jonathan’s country home in Otuoke community under Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, by 2a.m, after the former president had reportedly moved to his Yenagoa home at about 12 a.m.
The two soldiers stationed behind the house, were said to have confronted the armed men on sighting them.
According to reports, “The gunmen were approaching the house when they were sighted by the soldiers. The gunmen calculated wrongly when they went for the military gunboat but it was not mounted.
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“The soldiers, while engaging the gunmen at the back of the house, were not aware that some of the hoodlums were coming into the house on land. Those gunmen on foot shot dead a soldier and shot another in the leg. They escaped after sighting reinforcement for the soldiers.
“The hoodlums abandoned a boat filled with blood. We asked an eyewitness at the jetty and we were told that the gunmen were moving some bodies of their colleague into another boat.”
However, the IYC boss, while condemning the attack in the strongest term, said: “We are calling on the neighbouring communities around Otueke to cooperate with the security agencies in order to fish out those bandits.
“We sympathise with the former President and the people of Otueke. We also sympathise with the Nigerian Army for losing a gallant personnel to that criminal act of hoodlums. The Ijaw nation shared their grief.
“IYC is ready to partner with the relevant security agencies on intelligent gathering. We hereby direct all structures of the council to work with the security agencies in Bayelsa State for the timely arrest of those miscreants.”
