Bayelsa Govt House photographer, PDP chairman shot dead

A Government House photographer in Bayelsa State, Reginald Dei, has been killed in Southern Ijaw Local Government of the state.

Sources said Dei, who was a popular photographer, was shot by troops of the Joint Task Force (JTF), Operation Delta Safe.

But JTF immediately refuted the allegations saying its troops were not involved in any skirmishes in the local government area during the election.

But giving insight into the killing, the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said Dei was murdered by men in military uniform.

The party said Dei was not the only person killed in the shooting, but also a ward chairman of the party in the state.

The party in a statement said rampaging armed men in military uniform murdered Dei, and one other person at Oweikorogha, Southern Ijaw Local Government Area òf Bayelsa State.

The State Chairman of the PDP, Chief Moses Cleopas, said in a statement that Dei was killed alongside the Ward Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party in the area, Mr. Seidougha Taribi.

He said the two victims of the electoral violence were killed while they were in their houses and waiting for the votes which had been concluded in their ward to be counted.

Moses said the assailants moved to the houses of the victims to shoot them to death.

He said the killing brought the number of those killed by thugs, some of whom were backed by soldiers, to three.

Moses said thugs identified to be working for the APC with the support of some soldiers besieged the Bassambiri and Oluasiri axis of Nembe Local Government Area, where they engaged operatives in a shootout all night on Friday.

According to him, the attackers lost a member in the attack while several others were injured and taken to the hospital in Ogbolomabiri and Yenagoa.

He accused a former Governor and a surveillance contractor as being behind the violence that rocked Opu Nembe and Bassambiri.

He stated further that the rampaging thugs hijacked the electoral materials for the seven wards of Bassambiri and Oluasiri to a hotel for thumb-printing.