The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Bayelsa State has reacted to the
\ndecision by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to cancel
\nthe rescheduled election in Southern Ijaw LGA, describing it as a
\nvindication of its earlier position that conducting the said election as
\nINEC did was a wrong decision on account of security concerns in the area.<\/p>\n
The PDP in a statement issued on Monday night by the Director of Publicity
\nof the Restoration Campaign Organisation, Jonathan Obuebite, said before
\nthe election was conducted it had informed INEC and security agencies that
\nthe whole of Southern Ijaw had been taken over by thugs.<\/p>\n
The take over, the party said, was with the support of the Joint Military
\nTask Force (JTF) who, he claimed, were receiving direct instruction from
\nAbuja to ensure that the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate,
\nTimipre Sylva was declared winner, adding “our advice was ignored.”<\/p>\n
Obuebite stated that the PDP was for a free, fair and credible election
\nand as such election in Southern Ijaw must be conducted in an atmosphere
\nthat could guarantee the participation of the people without let or
\nhindrance and ensure its credibility.<\/p>\n
According to him, as at 4pm on Sunday, election materials were still being
\ndistributed and wondered how such process could lead to a transparent
\nelection, adding that it was an orchestrated plan to rig the election as
\nvoting went on in the dark.<\/p>\n
Obuebite said the situation also afforded political thugs to infiltrate
\nthe polling units snatching ballot boxes, intimidating voters under the
\nsupervision of the military amidst general apathy.<\/p>\n
The PDP accused INEC, the police and army of colluding with the APC to rig
\nthe election, stressing that all that happened in Southern Ijaw last
\nSunday was co-ordinated by the Secretary to the Government of the
\nFederation (SGF), Engr. Babachir David Lawal, with the aim of deflating
\nthe majority votes of Governor Dickson and then announce APC flag bearer,
\nTimipre Sylva, as the winner.<\/p>\n
Dickson was announced by INEC to have won 7 of the 8 LGs in the state with
\na margin of 33.000 and has thus fulfilled constitutional requirement of
\n2\/3 spread and popular votes but without Southern Ijaw as the only LG
\nremaining.<\/p>\n
Obuebite further said that in a manner to perfect the rigging plan, the
\nstate commissioner of police and head of the Directorate of State Security
\n(DSS ) were randomly changed ahead of the election.<\/p>\n
He said, “Before now, we know that the SGF was coordinating the whole
\nrigging plan and we alerted President MuhammaduBuhari and the public. They
\nknow they cannot win without rigging through violence and the whole world
\nhave seen what happened on Sunday. It was a rape of democracy. There was a
\npremeditated effort on a multiple level of conspiracy to rig this
\nelection, involving INEC, army and the police.<\/p>\n
“It is true that a top army officer, one major Sanni, gave election
\nmaterials to APC members at three polling units and zoomed off with his
\nteam, throwing the whole place into turmoil to allow APC have advantage.
\nOf course, APC leaders have all along been saying it everywhere that they
\nwill to use federal might and they tried but failed.”<\/p>\n
The PDP called on President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure the rerun election
\nin Southern Ijaw is conducted under a violence-free atmosphere whenever it
\nis rescheduled, stating that his integrity as well known was being damaged
\nby those it said were close to him.<\/p>\n
\u201cExcept we have a truly secured environment, the situation will continue
\nto be like that and that will not only damage PresidentBuhari\u2019s image
\nlocally and internationally but puts democracy and the people at risk”,
\nthe party said.<\/p>\n
Obuebite justified the cancellation thus: \u201cIn a situation where so many
\npeople had even ran away from home on account of insecurity having been
\ntraumatized the previous day and others still seeing a repeat scourge of
\nviolence, it ran against good conscience and judgement to say you are
\nconducting election in that kind of atmosphere thereby disenfranchising a
\nlot of people in a crucial election. This is against the spirit and
\nletters of democracy and we accordingly condemn this charade in totality.<\/p>\n
“What the people want is a free, fair and credible election and in this
\nrespect, the process must be above board. They had a hidden agenda but the
\ngood people of Bayelsa State will continue to resist such evil tendency\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Bayelsa State has reacted to the decision by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to cancel the rescheduled election in Southern Ijaw LGA, describing…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44525,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n