–VP Jagdeo says, following Nigerian’s attempts to breach State House security

VICE-President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, on Friday, said that the government is sparing no effort to get to the truth as it relates to the recent attempt by a Nigerian to infiltrate the State House compound.

The Vice-President during a live interview, said authorities do not want to be premature in judgement as to the reason behind the attack.
He stated: “There’s a full investigation going on and we’re not sparing any effort to get to the truth. We have to see if it’s just an isolated act or a conspiracy and, therefore, the task force that is working on this will go through a number of leads that they have.”

Dr Jagdeo added that at some point the task force will report back to the authorities, but as of now, the investigation continues with vigour to get to the truth of the matter.
According to a police report on Thursday, the incident occurred at the southern guard hut of State House on the Carmichael Street side.

“A security detail was on duty at [the] south-eastern guard hut adjacent to Carmichael Street, when a male of mixed-race ethnicity confronted the security, stating: “I want the President.” The said male then drew a knife from his pants waist and stabbed one of the male police rank[s] that [sic]was on duty five times to his neck and about his body,” the police report said.
According to the report, the injured rank, who was part of the security detail, was subsequently relieved of his firearm by the suspect. The suspect then drew the firearm, and fired several rounds while retreating to Carmichael Street.

“The security detail returned fire, injuring the suspect,” the police said.
A 9MM pistol and seven 9MM spent shells were retrieved. The Nigerian man was identified as 25-year-old Bethel Ikenna Chimezie, who has been living in Guyana since 2019. He was reportedly shot three times during the incident.

The incident has left the entire country in shock as to what motivated Chimezie to carry out the attack at the official residence of the President of Guyana.
Thankfully, President Ali and his family were safe and well. Both Chimezie and the Presidential Guard were rushed to the GPHC for treatment, and reports are that the Nigerian remains in a serious condition in the intensive care unit (ICU) of the hospital while the rank, Telon Perreira, is conscious.

Dr.Jagdeo said the incident happened suddenly and while these attempts can’t be prevented, the intention is to ensure that all persons are prepared in the event that such acts happen again.
Against this backdrop, he said that the state of readiness of the Presidential Guard and how they acted in the incident should inform the future security arrangements and also the level of training that they receive.

ENHANCED SECURITY
This incident, Dr. Jagdeo said, will help to enhance security arrangements across the country, particularly as it relates to the Head of State.
Those enhancements, he added, must be done without having a “siege mentality” in the government.

Jagdeo went on to add that even without threats, former President, David Granger moved with a large fleet of vehicles following him around, which many people think may be appropriate
He added that historically, Guyana is not a country that is known for that sort of threat to politicians.

But the government does not want to have a siege mentality, which means that for the President to go anywhere he needs excessive security; this will prevent the “personal touch” that the party has with citizens.

“It is that personal touch that characterises not just President Ali but the PPP’s engagement in office. We have always prided ourselves in remaining in touch with people at the grassroots, going to visit their communities, listening to them,” the Vice-President said.

Jagdeo further added that if they were to be excessively security conscious, it may become a barrier to that sort of approach with the communities, and noted that a lot more has to be done from the intelligence perspective if this act is one that was organised.

As it is now, there is a lead that is going in that direction which has borne early fruit; however, the authorities do not want to be premature, but it is a case where it must be addressed and responded to appropriately, especially from the intelligence-gathering aspect to thwart plans of this nature.
With that, Dr. Jagdeo said that people also have to be intolerant of people who try to create those conditions and possible intellectual authors of these acts, who then quickly distance themselves from such acts.

To this end, the Vice-President said that he noticed a statement coming out of the opposition, which stated that they do not support such acts.
However, he added that if one is to look at the tenure and language used by the opposition and some of its aligned websites, over 15 instances could be listed where he said people were called upon to damage public property or to attack people from the government.

“If you don’t support that then you can’t support a narrative that could lead to this, and that is what we have to become intolerant of, that we have to take firm action against people who try to incite division,” Dr Jagdeo remarked.

Additionally, he stated that this matter is being examined carefully and the police are investigating to see whether there are intellectual authors, who they are and to bring them to justice.
As such, the Vice-President indicated that there is a need to improve the readiness of the security forces, particularly those with responsibility for the President and this is already on the cards. In addition to this, he noted that intelligence agencies will be strengthened.