Bayelsa State Governor, Honourable Henry Seriake Dickson, has directed the security agencies in the state to arrest and prosecute the legislator representing the Brass Constituency 1 in the State House of Assembly, Israel Sunny-Goli.

He warned that if Sunny-Goli is not arrested and prosecuted by the law enforcement agencies, he would personally mobilise the people of the state to arrest him.

The governor stressed that the police authorities and the Department of State Services (DSS) had failed to arrest the lawmaker despite the plethora of petitions against him in the state because he belonged to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Governor Dickson in a rare press release by his Special Adviser on Public Affairs, Mr. Daniel Alabrah, accused the lawmaker of being responsible for various crimes including murder, thuggery and cultism in his constituency and the whole of Brass Local Government Area of the state.

He said that Goli was one of the kingpins of cultism in the state responsible for several unresolved murders.

“Sunny-Goli is a criminal and a fugitive, who is running away from the law. He is responsible for several deaths in the state and runs to Abuja to seek refuge. The police authorities cannot continue to condone acts of criminality simply because Sunny-Goli (also known as Adi) is a member of the APC. The law must not be applied selectively.

“The position of the Bayelsa State Government is that Sunny-Goli has to be arrested. We are asking the IG and the DSS to take steps to prevent an abuse of their powers by someone who terrorises innocent people.

“I will mobilise the people of this state to arrest him since the law enforcement agencies cannot do it. As governor of this state, I do not and will not condone criminal acts by any individual no matter his position in the state. I have a zero tolerance for criminality and lawlessness.”

He also expressed shock that President Muhammadu Buhari could allow former Governor Timipre Sylva, the Minister of State for Agriculture, Heineken Lokpobiri and other APC leaders to cause mayhem in the state despite my several reports and complaints to him and security agencies.

“The president has allowed common criminals and terrorists such as Sylva and Lokpobiri to unleash violence on their people while the IG is sitting in Abuja to direct investigation of a petition against the Brass Council chairman. At the moment, they are attacking innocent people in Brass, who are members of the PDP, with people bloodied and houses burnt all in a bid to destabilise the state.”

The governor said Sunny-Goli has several pending cases before the police and the DSS for which he was invited but that he shunned the invitation to seek protection in Abuja from where he wrote a frivolous petition that resulted in Thursday's invasion of the homes of the interim chairman of the Brass council, Victor Isaiah, and that of the former chairman of the APC in the state, Chief Timipa Tiwei Orunimighe, who recently defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He insisted that Isaiah who was invited by the police would honour the invitation when the security agencies act on the earlier petitions against the lawmaker that was being protected by the agencies.

The governor accused the APC leaders in the state, including Sylva and Lokpobiri, of using the security agencies to shield criminals, intimidate and harass innocent citizens.

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