2 shot dead as gunmen attack House of Assembly aspirant in Bayelsa

Two people were killed when a House of Assem­bly aspirant in the 2015 elections was attacked on the Brass/ Okpoama waterways on Friday. One of those killed was Mr Awotimigha Iyabi an aide to the former Commis­sioner of Information and Orientation, Chief Nathan Egba.
According to investiga­tions, the House of As­sembly aspirant, Mr Alfred Watson Belemote was being accompanied to Okpoama, Brass Local Government Area when gunmen num­bering about six accosted his boat and fired a volley of shots. While Belemote sus­tained bullet wounds, Iyabi and another friend in the boat died instantly.
Checks indicated that the gunmen had laid ambush along the waterway and when they sighted the first gunboat, they did not attack until they saw the second boat in which Belemote rode.  Eyewitness account said when they first shot, one of the first set of bullets hit Belemote in the arm and in the ensuing confusion, as the two others were scam­pering for safety, the bullets hit them.
“The gunmen said he is not here. He is in the second boat. It was at that point they sighted the second boat and opened fire. The mobile po­liceman attached to the aspi­rant put up a good fight by shooting back, but the fire power of the gunmen was huge,” the eyewitness said.
Belemote was said to have been rushed to Brass General Hospital for emer­gency medical attention and arrangements were on to move him to Yenagoa.
The former Commission­er for Information and Ori­entation, Chief Egba, who led journalists and friends of Iyabi on a condolence visit to the wife, expressed shock at the attack and de­scribed the deceased as a “non-violent person and a gentleman.”
Spokesman of the Bay­elsa State Police Command, Mr. Alex Akhigbe, who con­firmed the incident and the deaths, said details of the in­cident were not immediately available.
He however assured that the police would do dili­gent investigations and get uncover motive behind the incident.