100 Bayelsa councillors arrested in Abuja

Yenagoa-No fewer than 100 Councillors from Bayelsa State, traveling to Abuja for a seminar were, Sunday, reportedly arrested by security operatives.

The Councillors who were traveling in a convoy, were intercepted by a joint team of the Army, Police and State Security Services, SSS, close to Gwagwalada at about 2pm and detained until Monday morning.

It was gathered that the councillors were labelled former militants from Bayelsa State on a mission to breach the peace in Abuja.

The embattled Councillors were reportedly sent back to Yenagoa with military escort.

An SSS official, who spoke anonymously, said information reaching security operatives was that the councillors were former militants who were going to Abuja to disturb the peace.

Chairman of the Councilors Forum, Mr. Godswill Agaga, dismissed the claims, saying they were on their way to a three-day conference organized by NALCON, at the Millennium Hotel, Abuja, when security operatives swooped on them and detained them in the forest on the Lokoja-Abuja Road.

He said the Councillors, including some nursing mothers, had their vehicle keys seized by the security operatives who accused them of coming to Abuja to protest on behalf of Governor Timipre Sylva over the governorship ticket for the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the state.