The Governorship Candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in Bayelsa State, Mr. Udengs Eradiri, on Thursday condemned the violence that followed the stabbing to death of a youth by a tricycle operator on Wednesday in Yenagoa.

A tricycle operator who allegedly stabbed his passenger to death over an argument on fare was lynched while several tricycles were burnt along the Okaka area of the Melford Okilo Road in Yenagoa.

Reacting to the development, Eradiri described the incident as a senseless wastage of precious lives in the state and called on security agencies especially the police to immediately intervene to avert possible breakdown of law and order.

Eradiri appealed to the youths especially the people who lost relatives in the incident, to remain calm and resist the temptation of taking laws into their own hands.

Eradiri, a former President of the Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) urged the people not to capitalise on the incident to engage in ethnic profiling of their neighbours.

He said the Ijaw, Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo among others had lived peacefully together as brothers and sisters and that the irresponsible act of one person should not be used to judge others from his ethnic group.

He said: “The life of everybody in this state matters and no act of provocation should lead to taking of any life. The police must investigate the incident, and prevent a further breach of peace.

“May we avoid the temptation of capitalising on the incident to engage in ethnic profiling of our neighbours. As Ijaw we have continued to live peacefully with Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba among others and we consider them as our brothers and sisters.

“We can only isolate criminal elements among us without using their acts to define their ethnic backgrounds. This is where we call on security agencies to diligently do their work to calm frayed nerves. We sympathise with the bereaved family and the entire people of the state”.

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