Five Arrested Over Plot To Attack Jonathan •

Five persons alleged to be plotting an attack on the house of former president Goodluck Jonathan in Yenogoa were apprehended in a hotel in Swali area of the Bayelsa state capital.

The Punch reports that, the suspects were caught as they were perfecting strategies to unleash terror in the home of the ex-president.

Names of the suspects, all males, were given as, Asupha Emeka, 34; Ebipre Ebebi, 25; Samuel Joe, 27; Okilo Matthew, 25; and Timiere Matthew, 25.

According to the report, the suspects were thugs loyal to a candidate of one of the frontline political parties in the state ahead of Saturday’s election. However, the major reason for the alleged attack on Jonathan is yet to be ascertained, but it was gathered that the incident was part of the measures to create tension.

Confirming the report, a security source, who desired anonymity, said the planned attack on Jonathan’s residence was orchestrated in a manner as to give the impression that the opposition was after the life of Jonathan.

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Five arrested over plans to attack Ex-president Goodluck Jonathan’s house in Bayelsa

He said: “The planned attack on Jonathan’s house was to give an impression of violence ahead of the supplementary election in the state. What the mastermind intends to achieve through that is what I cannot fathom.

“You know this is the time of politics when politicians design all manner of tricks, crisis and strategies to heat up the polity. This is one of those aspects of dangerous politics they are playing.

“The ringleader of this dastardly act, we learnt is a member of Jonathan’s party. The whole plot was contrived to give the impression that the opposition is the one responsible.”

But on his part, Asinim Butswat, the police public relations officer, Bayelsa state command said their apprehension was based on a tip-off.

Butswat said: “On the January 6, 2016, at about 1500hrs, based on a tip-off, detectives from the Anti-Kidnapping and Anti-Vice unit stormed a hotel premises in Swali community, Yenagoa, and arrested five suspects.

“The suspects are Asupha Emeka, Ebipre Ebebi, Samuel Joe, Okilo Matthew and Timiere Matthew.”

The police spokesman said the suspects were drawing a plan to launch an attack on a yet-to-be identified location, adding that the suspects were currently undergoing interrogation and that investigation was on-going.

Naij.com recalls that alleged plot on Goodluck Jonathan comes just a month after he had narrowly escaped death in Bayelsa state on November 30, 2015.

Some suspected men accused of working for the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state drove into Jonathan’s convoy.

The militants, who stopped and drove into a short motorcade transporting the former president from the Julius Berger bridge area of the state capital Yenagoa, trailed and chased the motorcade to the entrance of the house of Jonathan in the Kpansia area of the town, before they were trailed and detained by a combined team of security operatives attached to the ex-president.