Some security operatives and civilians were feared killed following outbreak of violence in Ekeremor local government area during Saturday’s Bayelsa State supplementary gubernatorial poll.
Though the exact number of deaths could not be confirmed, Governor Seriake Dickson, in strong terms, condemned the electoral malpractices and violence which marred the election in Brass, Nembe, Ekeremor town and parts of Southern Ijaw Local Government Area.
However, the unending controversies which dog the ballot did not diminish with its qualified successful end of voting when both front-runners, incumbent Governor Dickson and his keenest challenger, Chief Timipre Sylva claimed to be in the lead at the time the collation of results were suspended to be resumed on Sunday.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had scheduled the supplementary poll to hold after the December 5, 2015 gubernatorial election in the state failed to produce a winner. Chief Timipre Sylva is the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the poll. APC is the ruling party at the federal level.
In a statement by his Chief Press Secretary Daniel Iworiso-Markson, the governor accused APC chieftains of masterminding the killing of innocent Bayelsans in Brass, Ekeremor, Nembe and Southern Ijaw and wondered why APC would kill to capture power.
Accusing APC of not being ready for one-man one-vote, Dickson said the violence in the poll had vindicated his position that security agencies, particularly the military, were partisan and not willing to provide the enabling environment for a free and fair election to take place.
He accused the security agencies of providing cover for APC to perpetrate violence and rig the election.
“To achieve their sinister plot, APC militants hijacked election materials and wrote results in many wards of Southern Ijaw, Brass, Ekeremor town, Brass while election was disrupted in parts of Yenagoa and in a polling unit in Otuokpoti, Ogbia Local Government.”
The governor called on INEC to cancel the election in polling units where the poll was hijacked and results written.
While calling for the arrest of the perpetrators of the killings, Dickson condoled with the families of those who lost their dear ones.
Lokpobiri debunked report of shooting, killings in Ekeremor
But the Minister of State for Agriculture, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri dismissed the claims that there were heavy shootings in Ekeremor that led to loss of lives.
According to Lokpobiri, an APC chieftain, though the claim had been traced to some PDP apologists, the conduct of the election in Ekeremor was peaceful, orderly and without violence.
Lokpobiri, who voted at about 12.10pm in Ekeremor, said through one of his aides, Preye Amba, that the reported killing of security personnel in Ekeremor was callous and wicked.
“Election in Ekeremor went on peacefully and the resort to this by the PDP is just a way of laying the foundation to cancel the supplementary poll so that whatever advantage it had before now will be sustained. No shooting whatsoever in Ekeremor,” the minister said.
“Rather, it was the PDP, in concert with one Major Umar from 5 Battalion, Warri, which came to carry away electoral materials from Ekeremor to Egbema Angalabiri. We have it on record that the said major is on the payroll of a known ex-militant leader bent on bringing down the APC in Bayelsa State.
“We call on the military authorities to investigate the role of the said major because he took away the materials without any other escort provided either by the police or the DSS.”
Dickson leads as collation continues
Results from the local governments where the rerun governorship election was held Saturday by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) showed that Seriake Dickson, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and incumbent governor of the state was coasting to victory.
After over two hours of waiting at the collation centre, announcement of the result commenced a few minutes past 1am at the INEC Collation Centre in Yenagoa, the state capital.
The result for Yenagoa LGA where election held in eight polling units, as announced by the collation officer shows that the number of registered voters was 9,560, accredited voters 1,480. The APC scored 448 while PDP got 839 votes.
In Brass local government, APC polled 1,679 votes while PDP polled 04, out of 2,255 registered and 1,703 accredited voters.
The result for Sagbama local government where election held in one polling unit shows that APC polled 119 votes while PDP polled 180, out of 326 accredited voters and 2005 registered voters. PDP polled 1,290 votes while APC polled 139 votes in Ogbia local government, where election held in 27 units. The local government has 4,344 registered voters but only 1,551 were accredited for voting.
In the rerun election, the PDP candidate polled 2,314 votes, while the APC candidate polled 2,385 votes. However, the PDP agent at the collation centre contested the result for Brass, describing the election as a sham. He accused APC of diverting election materials and writing results in the area and accused the collation officer of trying to authenticate a non-existent result, while calling for a cancellation of the result for the local government.
INEC officials however advised him to channel his complaint through laid down administrative procedure.
Collation of the remaining result will be held Sunday, after which the winner will be announced.
Earlier, before the announcement of the result commenced, the Chief Returning Officer of INEC and Vice Chancellor of the University of Calabar, Professor Zane Akpag, said the results to be announced were for 57 registered areas and 527 polling units of Southern Ijaw, Sagbama, Ekeremor, Brass, Yenagoa and Nembe council areas of the State.
In his comment, the Supervising Electoral Commissioner, Dr.Mustapha Legih, described the conduct of the governorship election in the state as challenging. He said INEC was expected to bring the process to a conclusive end with the collation and announcement of the result.
However, PDP and APC were laying claim to victory as the last lap of the Bayelsa governorship election held, amid violence and irregularities.
The Sylva/Igiri Campaign Organisation, in a statement by its Director of Media and Publicity, Chief Nathan Egba, claimed that with the early results trickling into the Situation Room of the party, it had reason to believe that APC may have cancelled the about 33,000 votes with which the PDP was leading from the inconclusive December 5th and 6th governorship election.
According to Egba, ”The candidate of the APC, Chief Timipre Sylva, secured majority votes in the remaining polling units in Bassambiri in Nembe local government area, Akassa and Liama in Brass LGA, Ekeremor LGA and the few results so far from Southern Ijaw LGA.
“In Brass LGA, APC polled 1,696 votes, followed by the PDM which had 12 votes and the PDP with 5 votes while in Bassambiri, APC had 2,184 votes while PDP scored 3 votes. PDP won in the only polling unit in Nembe-Ogbolomabiri through manipulation with 426 votes while APC was awarded 6 votes. In Oguta-Otuokpotiof Ogbia LGA, APC had 332 votes while PDP scored 10 votes. In Ekeremor, home town of the Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, APC had a good showing by returning over 80 per cent of the total vote cast from over 13,000 expected votes. In ward 17 of Southern Ijaw Local Government Area, the result was in favour of the APC with well over 70 per cent of the vote cast.”
He urged members and supporters of the party to remain upbeat in anticipation of total victory in the election.
Despite the hitches witnessed, the election witnessed a large turnout of voters. As early as 8am, most voters were already waiting at their various polling units with election materials arriving as scheduled in most of the polling units.
Election materials arrived early in areas such as Ammasoma, Ogbia, Sagbama and Nembe with accreditation and voting was completed before the 2pm scheduled for voting.
Accreditation and voting were however delayed in other areas including Ekeremor and Southern Ijaw local government areas but voters waited patiently, having trooped out early to cast their votes.
In Okodi ward in Ogbia local government area of the state, with the arrival of election materials, voting commenced immediately but there was tension in Otakeme and Edema communities of Ogbia, due to the delay in arrival of election materials.
Voting ended early in most polling units in Ammassoma community due to timely arrival of election officials and materials.
At Kokorosei, the home community of the Speaker of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly, Hon. Kombowei Benson, materials arrived early and voting commenced.
Election materials hijacked in Okoroba
Voters in Okoroba in Nembe local government area alleged hijacking of election materials meant for their unit by thugs.
Though the election was cancelled in only one unit, some voters in the community alleged that materials for the unit identified as Ward 11, Unit 13, were hijacked at the point of distribution by political thugs in the presence of security agents.
An indigene of the community, Barr Gift Douglas, alleged that the thugs also attacked and beat a traditional Chief Etulankimor Douglas Eteli to stupor, in the presence of the DPO in Nembe Bassabiri, adding that they also took the ballot papers away and were in Nembe thumb printing them.
-Leadership/Vanguard