Wed Nov 30, 2005 3:42 PM GMT

By Austin Ekeinde

Bayelsa Radio failed to start broadcasting on Wednesday morning and several armed riot police stood guard outside the sealed building in the state capital Yenagoa.

"The radio station was shut down," said police spokesman Haz Iwendi, adding that he was not sure why. "It could have been a security measure if it was inciting people to violence, then we have the right to shut it down."

The federal government is piling pressure on Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha to step down after he skipped bail in London where he was due to stand trial for laundering 1.8 million pounds.

About 1,000 federal troops armed with machine guns and rocket launchers, helicopter gunships, tanks and armoured cars have swarmed into major towns of the state, which is at the heart of the oil-producing Niger Delta.

On Tuesday night, hundreds of police entered the government headquarters in what they said was a search for illegal weapons.

The federal government has also encouraged a group of lawmakers to impeach the governor, but it lacks the two-thirds majority in the 24-member house required to pass the bill.

The group of 15 lawmakers, one short of two-thirds, suspended four opposing representatives on Tuesday in an apparent bid to overcome its lack of majority.

It also instructed the judiciary to investigate the impeachment charges, which include embezzlement, money laundering and lying about his wealth.

The federally-controlled Nigerian Television Authority incorrectly reported on its nationwide news bulletin on Tuesday that 16, not 15, lawmakers were present.

Bayelsa Radio correctly reported that there were only 15.

Nine opposing legislators said they were prevented from attending the assembly by troops.

Governor Alamieyeseigha has argued that the federal government is persecuting him for championing the cause of his Ijaw ethnic minority for a greater share of Nigeria's oil wealth.

Many of the governor's supporters have also argued that he is being hounded for supporting Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, who is fighting President Olusegun Obasanjo for supremacy in the ruling party ahead of elections in 2007.