The Bayelsa State Government said on Thursday that the recent killing of soldiers by suspected militants along the waterways of Letugbene community in Ekeremor local government area of the state was politically motivated.
The government in a statement signed by the Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr. Jonathan Obuebite, regretted the unfortunate incident, describing it as unwarranted, barbaric and totally unacceptable.
He said the government discovered from its preliminary investigations that there was no dispute to have warranted an attack on soldiers, who were carrying out there legitimate duties.
He said it was purely an act of criminality, deliberately carried out to rubbish the security and peace efforts of the state government.
Obuebite, who expressed government’s sympathy to the immediate families of dead soldiers and the Nigerian Army, called for a thorough investigation into the incident to ensure that everybody linked to the act was brought to book to serve as a deterrent to others.
He said: “To us, this incident is a politically motivated and sponsored by some persons in high places to heat up the state for their selfish interests and as a government, we would not fold our arms and allow a few individuals to rubbish the peace and security we have been able to bring to our state.
“We will support the security agencies in whichever way possible in carrying out their investigations in this matter.”
Obuebite said the government would resist every move by mischief makers to take the state back to its inglorious past, when some politicians used their positions to perpetuate acts of lawlessness.
He also urged the Federal Government to ensure that anybody found culpable in the matter, no matter how highly placed, should be made to face the music. The Nation news.