With less than three months to the December 5 governorship election, major
tragedy was averted on Saturday in Nembe, Bayelsa State following the
sudden slump of the former Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),
Col. Sam Inokoba (rtd), who recently defected to the All Progressives
Congress (APC).
During the incident which happened at a Town Hall meeting in Nembe,
tension, fear and apprehension was said to have gripped the leadership of
the APC.
It was however not clear whether journalists from both print and
electronic media were compromised from writing the report of a major
incident that took place in public domain.
But an eyewitness at the forum who pleaded anonymity said “something funny
happened and you don’t expect everything to be made public.”
Sources at the event said the programme was on-going when Inokoba suddenly
collapsed and was rushed to a local hospital where he was said to be under
intensive care as efforts were being made by medical personnel to
stabilise his condition.
The Timipre Sylva-led APC leadership in the state was said to be
uncomfortable with the situation and tried to keep the incident away from
the press.
But it soon became public knowledge when relatives and associates came to
the hospital where Inokoba was being treated.
Reacting to the development, the Ijaw Young Professionals called on
Inokoba’s family and the general public to hold the APC responsible
should anything happened to the former PDP chairman.
Spokesman of IYP, Seighfa Tonye-Brown, in a statement in Yenagoa, berated
the APC for attempting to hide the unfortunate incident.
According to him, the action of the APC leadership was suspicious and not
in good faith.
He warned that should anything untoward happen to the Odi-born politician,
the action of APC would be called to question.
Inokoba, who marked his 70th birthday in April, the statement claimed, had
been in and out of hospital all through last year and till date.
Tonye-Brown added that all the while, his medical bills and welfare were
provided by the Dickson-led PDP government.
“On several occasions, we were aware that he was flown abroad for medical
treatment courtesy of the PDP-led government in the state. Even on the eve
of his defection to the APC, we were privy to the fact that he was given
the sum of N5 million by the Contriman governor, Henry Seriake Dickson, to
proceed abroad for his usual medical check and treatment”, Tonye-Brown
stated.