A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and candidate for the 2019 Bayelsa Central Senatorial election, Barrister Festus Daumiebi, has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to call the Nigerian Army to order.
His call was prompted by an alleged military invasion of his property on two separate occasions in the Igbomotoru 1 community in the Southern Ijaw local government area of the state.
Daumiebi told journalists at a press conference in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, that two weeks after the military invaded Igbomotoru 11 community, officers of the Nigerian Army unlawfully attacked his six-bedroom duplex and five-bedroom guest house duplex in Igbomotoru 1 community on March 30, 2024.
He said that while the matter is still receiving the court’s attention, he was reliably informed that the Igbomotoru coordinator of an oil pipeline surveillance company led men of the Nigerian Army stationed in Igbomotoru 11 in two gunboats into his compound in the Igbomotoru 1 community on May 31, 2024.
According to Daumiebi, reports before him indicated that they took away items which include boots and life vests belonging to men of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) who were using and occupying his compound, which he expressly stated in his earlier letters to concerned authorities.
He said, “This second attack on my property has shown that the actions by men of the Nigerian Army stationed in Igbomotoru 11 are politically motivated. It is the seeking of political vendetta against me for my stance in the last governorship election; otherwise, why pick on me?
“As it stands, I do not know if anything has been planted in my house. I challenge the Nigerian Army to tell the world what I did to warrant these attacks. They should tell the world what they are looking for in my country home. They should tell the world what they found when they invaded same on 30th March, 2024. If I have done anything wrong let them seek remedy in court rather than resorting to intimidation and self-help.
“I am a legal practitioner with interest in real estate dating almost two decades. I was brought up within the finest of traditions. I am not a sympathizer of crime. I am a peace-loving individual who believes in hard work and dedication to good cause. Therefore, I have never had any issue with the security agencies operating within and outside Nigeria. While I am not against the Niger Delta struggle for an egalitarian Nigeria, I have never been a militant, and neither have I been a beneficiary of any Presidential Amnesty largesse. I come clean at all times with a heart for noble conduct.
“Let it be known that the constitutional duties of the Nigerian Army, which is part of the Armed Forces for the federation, as contemplated within the provisions of section 217 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, do not include nor extend to invasion of the people’s privacy and their home,” he said.