By Emem Idio

YENAGOA—AGIP  Indigenous Contractors Association in Bayelsa State has expressed concern over the alleged arrest and detention of two of its members by operatives of Department of State Services, DSS, in the state.

President of the association, Mr Clement Adaminegbe, in a statement in Yenagoa, while lamenting the incarceration of James Angese and Nengi Ikiba in DSS detention, pointed out that since their arrest over two weeks, the DSS had refused to make known to them, the offence they committed, adding that family members of the detainees have not been allowed to take them on bail as it had also refused to charge them to court.

Adaminegbe, who is also the leader of Ijaw All Progressives Congress Support Group, described the detention of the duo as politically motivated, stating that it was not unconnected with their support for a particular candidate in the last governorship election in the state, and accused the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the state as the brain behind their travails.

He said: “We want to use this medium to plead for the release of our members while also advising security agencies in the state not to allow themselves to be used by politicians to witchunt members of opposition political parties in the state to avoid throwing the state into crisis.”

State Publicity Secretary of PDP, Macbere Osom, in a chat with Vanguard, denied the involvement of the party in the state, stating that the PDP has no hand in the arrest and detention of the duo.