PDP candidate, Governor Seriake Dickson, is leading in the results released so far by INEC in six local government areas of Bayelsa State in the gubernatorial election conducted on Saturday.
The result as announced by collating officers shows that PDP won in Yenagoa, Ekeremor, Kolokuma/Opokuma and Sagbama local government areas, while APC won in Brass local government area.
In Yenagoa APC scores 14, 563, PDP, 24,258 and PDM, (451); Kolokuma/ Opokuma, APC (6,896), PDP (7,619), PDM (137); Ekeremor, APC (7,918), PDP (14,603), PDM (44).
Others are Brass, APC (21,755), PDP (6516), Sagbama, APC (5,382), PDP (28,934) and PDM (406)
In total, PDP has 81,514 to APC’s 56,929
Results for the other three local governments are still being expected and they are Ogbia, Nembe and Southern Ijaw.
As Bayelsans awaits the results of Saturday’s governorship election in the state, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, yesterday raised the alarm over alleged attempts by All Progressives Congress, APC, to use officials of government in Abuja, to rig the rescheduled election in troubled Southern Ijaw local government.
Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had on Saturday announced the cancellation and postponement of polls in Southern Ijaw and about 25 units in three other local governments in state.
The electoral umpire had hinged its decision on alleged disturbance and violence in Southern Ijaw, where about five persons were feared dead.
Though, police authorities yesterday dismissed the report that five persons lost their lives, the state acting Chairman of PDP, Chief Serena Dokubo-Spiff, alleged that there was a grand plot by APC to rig the poll in favour of its candidate, Chief Timipre Sylva.
At a press conference in Yenagoa with some national chieftains of the party, which include National Vice Chairman, South, Mr. Cairo Ojuogbo and the Senator representing Bayelsa West, Foster Ogola, Dokubo-Spiff said APC is doing anything possible to rig the election in favour of its candidate.
He claimed that APC has resorted to using federal might to swing the pendulum of the election to favour Sylva in the remaining local government area and twenty five units in three local governments.
Dokubo-Spiff also alleged that Sylva had already gone to Abuja to consult with some senior government officials on how to perfect the rigging to give him an edge over Governor Seriake Dickson.
Dokubo-Spiff said: “The elections are going on and every responsible candidate should be at the theatre. The candidate for the APC, Chief Timipre Sylva, is in Abuja, having consultations with senior government officials who are giving directive to the Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state.
“As a result of this development, the REC himself, as we speak is in Amassoma, taking steps and giving directive that accreditation and voting should go on simultaneously which is outside the norm.
“We have told you about the huge logistics challenges and that to go from one point to another in Southern Ijaw, will take about three and four hours. So, how do we expect the normal electoral process to be undertaken?
“In the event, we the PDP hereby say that is irregular, it is improper, it is unacceptable, we will resist it; we will not accept it. We must commit to do the right thing in this country. We will not accept it.
“The REC should be seen to do the right thing; he must not do the wrong thing at all. How can he say accreditation and voting must go on simultaneously in a place like Southern Ijaw that has geographical component as far flung as from here to Siberia? It is not right, we fear that there is intending plot to do mischief, that will not be accepted. We are saying this emphatically for purpose of the records.”
The PDP chairman, who narrated how he was gruesomely attacked in his home in Twon-Brass, accused the police of looking the other way when he alerted them of his ordeal, which lasted for more than two hours.
He said the hoodlums, said to be APC members, held him hostage, and beat him to stupor resulting in his being admitted in a hospital in Brass.
While saying PDP would resist any plot to rig the election, Dokubo-Spiff noted that the state and national working committees of the party were irrevocably committed to ensuring that the election was conducted properly.
“We will not accept any irregularity. Enough is enough,” he warned.
The party’s national leadership also raised the same alarm.
In a statement by PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, the party said: “This rigging is being coordinated by the same Army Major who supervised the killings yesterday. The Major has handed most of the sensitive materials to APC agents to fill and return as results in the evening.
“Southern Ijaw Local Government Area is the largest in the state and the APC wants to use this scheme to inflate result figures in favour of their candidate.”
But earlier in another press briefing, police authorities, speaking on the disruption of election in Southern Ijaw by some hired thugs, had insisted that nobody was killed in the area as reported by some media.
Deputy Inspector General of Police, Hashimu Argungun, who brief newsmen, confirmed the arrest of 10 persons involved in connection to the violence.
The DIG said: “Yesterday, INEC officials and security agencies met and agreed that the only local government, Southern Ijaw, where election could not take place due to logistic problems and other few areas where the election could not take place, election will take place today Sunday, December 6th, 2016.
“The report that some people were killed cannot be confirmed as corpses of the purported dead persons cannot be traced and their particulars could not be obtained from any source.
“Information at my disposal is that there was no death in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area.”
He described the stories of killings as mere rumors, adding that rumors are mere psychological projections.
He said the command recovered five AK47 rifles and one berretta pistol from some hoodlums, noting all the arrest made were in connection to possession of firearms and other related electoral violence
On Governor Dickson breaching the electoral law by going to Okpoama and invading INEC collation centre in Yenagoa, Argungu said the command is investigating the matter to confirm if it was true.
Meanwhile, APC in the state, through the Slyva/ Igiri campaign organisation has called for the cancellation of results from Ekeremor and Sagbama local government areas, following what they described as widespread violence, security breaches and election manipulation that were allegedly carried out by Governor Dickson and the PDP.
A statement signed by Nathan Egba, it’s Director of Media and Publicity, stated that it is now a well known fact that 1,000 armed men suspected to have been imported from Delta and Rivers states by Governor Dickson stormed Ekeremor and unleashed terror on the entire community from the wee hours of election day for many hours before they were repelled by the army, only for them to return in the evening when results were about to be collated.
He said the gunmen were suspected to have been hired for the sole purpose of assassinating Minister of State, Agriculture, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri as they launched a sustained attack on his residence with grenade, dynamite and gunshots for hours before the army repelled them.
He said the gunmen carted away sensitive election materials to be manipulated in favour of PDP and returned for collation.
The statement said: “In Sagbama Local Government Area, the home of Governor Dickson, the youths, who were again said to have been brought from Delta and Rivers states, also hijacked the materials that were meant for all the riverine communities in the LGA, including the ward of the former scting governor of the state, Nestor Binabo. Other wards where election did not hold, includes wards I & II.”
While calling on INEC to cancel the election results in the two local government areas, Egba noted that the violence which cut across the state, largely took place in parts of Sagbama, Ekeremor and Southern Ijaw LGA, where election was later rescheduled.
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