Ijaw Leaders, NGO Condemn Conduct of Bayelsa Guber Poll ...Say security agencies protected thugs, particular party

The Ijaw Leaders Forum (IJL), a sociocultural group, and a Non-Governmental Organisation, Advocacy for Good Governance (AGG) have condemned the conduct of last Saturday’s governorship election in Bayelsa State.

Led by frontline Ijaw rights activist, Elder Timi Ogoriba , the group, along with the AGG, chaired by Bunu Jacob, said the election fell short of the required standard.

In a statement signed by eight members of the group, including Elder Timi Ogoriba,  Oyinfiye JonJon, Hendrick Opukeme, Kennedy Orubebe, Ari. Ari, Trydi Okpeke and Tari Patrick, the Ijaw leaders alleged that the election was fraudulently conducted with the deployment of heavy security to favour a particular party.

The statement alleged that the security forces arrested those perceived to be working for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), but protected thugs and supporters of APC to perpetrate electoral malpractices, including massive thumb-printing.

“There was a brazen display of coerciveness and use of brute force by the security agents on the electorate. It was also a common knowledge that the security forces arrested those who were perceived to be working for the PDP and isolated them at several locations till after the elections.

"In some local government areas, security personnel led and protected hoard of thugs and supporters to cart away electoral materials forcefully to safe havens where thumb-printing was openly done.

"This, to us, is against civilized norms of electioneering in a democracy,” the groups said.

The Ijaw leaders challenged the Nigerian judiciary to rise to the occasion and correct the alleged anomalies when entertaining matters arising from the conduct of the November 16 Bayelsa State governorship polls.

Also, the state Chairman of the Advocacy for Good Governance, Mr. Bunu Jacob, told journalists in Yenagoa that the election was marred with a lot of irregularities which could put the country’s democracy under serious threat.

According to him, “What happened in some places during the election was a rape to our democracy. And this will further put to test whether or not our democracy can survive.

"We are calling on the international community and all lovers of democracy to come to our aid as our democracy is in serious threat because in some places, a lot of irregularities happened and election materials were hijacked.

"Figures were just formulated in favour of a particular political party which they think had the upper hand. And if we continue in this trend, our democracy would be jeopardised.”

He commended the aggrieved candidates for not taking the laws into their hands, and urged them to seek redress in the law court.

The state Secretary of the advocacy group, Mr. Abalaba Bubaraye, challenged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to redeem itself by conducting a fresh election devoid of violence, intimidation and electoral malpractices.