An amalgam of
militant groups known as the Joint Revolutionary Council (JRC) has issued a
48-hour ultimatum to Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson to apologize to
Ijaw woman activist, Annkio Briggs or face their anger.
The JRC said it
held Dickson responsible for the alleged assault on her and others during a
recent peaceful protest in Bayelsa.
Briggs was
assaulted by hoodlums in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital a week ago to protest
the allocation of 1, 200 hectares of land to Fulani herdsmen for cattle
grazing.
The protesters had assembled at Tombia Junction, the take-off point, in Yenagoa and Briggs was reportedly addressing the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, his men and the gathering on the purpose of the protest when thugs unhindered, pounced, assaulting her and others.
According to
the spokesperson of the JRC, Cynthia Whyte yesterday, if Governor Dickson
failed to apologize “key agitating groups in the state would be activated to
undermine the Dickson government.”
She said:
“Within that 48-hour space, key agitating groups will first renounce amnesty
and then commence series of activities to drive home our point and position. It
is unfortunate that the same government which many Ijaws struggled and clamored
to win the 2016 elections would now turn out to be a government of tyranny,
incompetence and ineptitude,” JRC said.
Whyte said: “It
is unfortunate that today, the same bandit elements, armed robbers and
unrepentant hardened criminals, who worked against Governor Dickson’s second
term are the same band of renegades that would be hired to mug, mob and attack
Annkio Briggs and her fellow protesters.
“This
represents the fullness of treachery and tyranny. We will not allow this to
happen in Bayelsa State, the cradle of Ijaw nation,” the JRC statement alleged.
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