TENSION continues to mount in Bayelsa State head of tomorrow supplementary gubernatorial elections as the home of the speaker of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly Hon Benson Friday Konbowei was bombed this morning.  

Bayelsans in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area are due to vote in the supplementary election tomorrow to determine who becomes the next governor but the run-up to the poll has been far from peaceful. At about 4am this morning, Hon Konbowei's home in the town of Korkosei, was bombed, in what has been a week of general violence. 

Yesterday, Beinmopre Jonah, the brother of the Bayelsa State deputy governor, John Jonah, escaped death by the whiskers after thugs suspected to be working for the opposition party, the All Progressives Congress, (APC) invaded his residence in Ekeki in Yenagoa Local Government Area. He was beaten up and left unconscious with serious wounds after his assailants inflicted severe machete cuts on him. 

Local sources said the suspected party thugs stormed the area, brandishing weapons such as machetes, cudgels and headed straight for Mr Jonah's residence. Following their arrival, the entire area was thrown into panic, as the suspected thugs threatened to shoot, maim and kill anybody that put up any resistance or called security operatives. 

One eyewitness said: “The invaders overpowered his guard, broke the security lock of the gate and headed straight to the living room, where he was with members of his family and attacked him.” 

At least 8,000 security personnel comprising the army, navy, police and Civil Defence staff have been deployed to Bayelsa State for the Southern Ijaw supplementary governorship elections tomorrow.  In a high stakes game, former governor Chief Timipre Sylva of the APC is up against incumbent, Governor Seriake Dickson of the Peoples Democratic Party. 

Yesterday, police in Bayelsa State arrested five people believed to be political thugs for plotting an alleged attack on the home of former president Dr Goodluck Jonathan in the state capital Yenagoa.  All five suspects were said to have been apprehended in a hotel in the Swali area of Yenagoa as they were perfecting strategies to unleash an attack on the former president’s house.