Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria`s Vice President-elect and outgoing Governor of south-eastern Bayelsa state, has described the dynamite attack on his country home by unknown gunmen Tuesday night as politically motivated “minor incident”.
“It is the price we all have to pay for leadership,” he said Wednesday at the opening of a workshop on media/military relationship at the Bayelsa capital, Yenagaoa, in his first reaction to the attack that damaged part of his private home in Ogbia.
Jonathan arrived at the venue of the workshop looking unruffled, but security around him was very tight, with stern-looking Presidential bodyguards, taking over from his regular security details of State Security Service (SSS) and police personnel.
No extra security was visible in the state capital, but experts from the police bomb disposal unit combed the venue of the workshop before the arrival of the governor, who represented outgoing President Olusegun Obasanjo at the opening ceremony.
Jonathan`s official residence in Yenagoa was also attacked by gunmen who came in speedboats on the eve of Nigeria`s 21 April disputed presidential election.
Bayelsa is in the Niger Delta and the region`s largest militant group, MEND, has distanced itself from Tuesday night`s attack, saying it was politically motivated. Rising violence in oil-rich but restive Niger Delta, has seen over 30 foreign workers kidnapped and several oil facilities attacked in the past month alone in Nigeria, Africa`s largest oil producer.