Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, has accused the media of working to promote the interest of kidnappers in the state.

Dickson, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Daniel Iworiso-Markson, on Friday said kidnappers were collaborating with the media to secure ransom from their victim’s families.

The governor’s 26-year-old younger sister, Nancy Dickson, who is a student of the Niger Delta University, Amassoma, has spent over seven weeks in kidnappers’ den.

However, Dickson has warned Bayelsans against succumbing to the pressure and blackmail of paying ransom to kidnappers.

He said, “Whether they are living in Yenagoa or Abuja; whether they are traditional rulers or APC or PDP, we will go after them at the right time. And I want to use this opportunity to call on media outfits not to allow themselves to be used to propagate crime and criminality.

“We are witnessing a trend in Bayelsa where people kidnap and the media will now be used to put pressure for ransom to be paid. There will be no ransom payment in this state.”

Dickson said plans were underway to amend the existing state criminal code to address the wave of crimes in the state.

On the rate of kidnappings, Dickson stated that security was undermined following the electoral violence that trailed the last governorship election, adding that the government “has already started unveiling its comprehensive strategy of returning Bayelsa to its days of peace.”

The governor said the recent ban on the use of 200 horsepower engine boats was one of the measures put in place by his government to check kidnapping, sea piracy and other criminal acts on the state’s waterways.

Dickson assured the people of his administration’s commitment to tackle kidnapping and pipeline vandalism in the state.

He warned youths to desist from perpetrating crimes, noting that anyone caught breaching the peace would be brought to justice.

Dickson said, “For now, security personnel will only use such boats because those are the boats used by kidnappers. Kidnapping is on the rise, which is a fall out of the deliberate compromise of our security.

“Let me assure Bayelsans that by the time we invigorate our security programme and make more investments, all the criminals will leave Bayelsa again for their own good.”

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