Diri stated this during the presentation of a report by the Policy Advocacy Committee of Niger Delta Dialogue led by former Speaker of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly, Tonye Isenah, in Government House, Yenagoa.
Spokesperson for the governor, Mr. Daniel Alabrah, in a statement quoted Diri as saying: “As a government, we abhor political patronage of criminals. I advise politicians to stop using other people’s children by equipping them with AK-47 rifles and introducing them to hard drugs to actualise their political interests rather than providing them with sound education.”
He advocated a legislation to curb the trend, which he noted was traceable to most criminal activities in the state.
Commending members of the committee for keying into the state government’s policy of zero tolerance for crime, the governor recommended that the jail term for kidnappers in the state be amended by the legislature.
‘We need to tinker with that piece of legislation bordering on kidnapping in the state and amend it. The jail term should be a minimum of 10 years to serve as a deterrent to others,’ he said.
The governor expressed his administration’s commitment to partner with the committee in ensuring that cultism, kidnapping and sea piracy were reduced to the barest minimum in the state.
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK