Just as it did in Kogi State last month, the INEC has declared Saturday’s election in Bayelsa State inconclusive, just as the APC candidate, Timipre Sylva described the action as a rape of democracy
According to him, if the commission must cancel the election in Southern Ijaw, where he claimed that he won roundly on flimsy excuses, the commission must also cancel the poll in Ekeremor, Nembe, Sagbama and other places.
The APC governorship candidate said the REC had no power to cancel an election that had taken place, noting that such power lies only with the Returning Officer.
“We had an election two days ago. In Ekeremor, there were widespread shootings; they beat up people; the minister’s house was under siege for a long time. It took a team of security operatives to repel the assailants, yet election was held in Ekeremor, he said
INEC cancelled the rescheduled poll in Southern Ijaw Local Government Council, one of the eight local governments in the state.
Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) Baritor Kpagir said the cancellation was endorsed by the national headquarters.
Kpagir said the election was cancelled, following reports that the poll in Southern Ijaw was substantially marred by violence, ballot box snatching, intimidation and other irregularities.
The REC, at the state collation centre located inside the multipurpose hall of the secretariat of Yenagoa Local Government, noted that in the interest of international compliance with best practice, the cancellation of the election became necessary.
Kpagir indicated that a new date for the election would be chosen and communicated to all the stakeholders.
The Chief Retuning Officer, Prof. Zena Akpogu, who is also the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calabar in Cross River State, maintained that he could not declare any of the candidates the winner of the poll, without the results from Southern Ijaw Local Government.
The mainly-riverine Southern Ijaw is the biggest council in the state. It has over 120,000 voting strength, which would decide the eventual winner of the election between Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP’s) Seriake Dickson and the All Progressives Congress’ (APC’s) Chief Timipre Sylva.
The governorship election took place on Saturday in Yenagoa, Kolokuma/Opokuma, Sagbama, Brass, Ekeremor, Ogbia and Nembe Councils. The poll in Southern Ijaw council was rescheduled for Sunday also as a result of violence and killings.
In the collated results from the seven local governments as announced by the Returning Officer, the PDP leads with 33,154 votes. The PDP polled 105,748 votes as against APC’s 72,594 votes.
Prior to the cancellation of the election in Southern Ijaw, some PDP women and youths, who wore black dresses and led by the party’s Bayelsa Women Leader Faith Opuene, protested near the collation centre, expressing displeasure over the poll in Southern Ijaw.
Barely 30 minutes after the protest, despite the police ban on demonstrations, some militants from Southern Ijaw escorted two Hilux vans, one of them with Bayelsa Government House registration number: BYGH145, into the collation centre.
The two vehicles were loaded with uncounted ballot materials, without any security escort or INEC official.
The militants, who were singing war songs, as they alighted from the Hilux vans, claimed that they escaped from Southern Ijaw with the results of three units of Amassoma in the council area, in view of the violence, but the electoral materials were not accepted by the INEC officials at the collation centre.
The Deputy Inspector-General of Police (DIG) in charge of Training and Development, Hashimu Argungu, told the militants to give peace a chance, assuring them that INEC would address their complaints.
The results are: Brass Local Government PDP 21,755 votes, APC 6,516 votes.
Sagbama PDP: 24, 258, APC 5, 382. Yenagoa, PDP 24,258, APC 14, 563
Kolokuma/Opokuma PDP 7,619 votes, APC 6,896.
Ekeremor PDP 14,602, APC 7,918 votes.
For the results announced yesterday: Ogbia PDP 13,051, APC 9,106 and Nembe PDP 10,768 APC 6,974 votes.
From the seven local government areas, PDP polled 105,748 votes. APC had 72,594 votes, with a difference of 33,154 votes.