INEC Declares Bayelsa Poll Inconclusive, APC, PDP React
Today, December 8, major Nigerian Dailies are focused Saturday’s Bayelsa state governorship election, which was nullified in Southern Ijaw local government area of the state by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Just like the electoral commission did in the November 21 governorship election in Kogi state, it declared the Bayelsa poll inconclusive.
Vanguard reports that election could not take place in Southern Ijaw LGA last Saturday and it rescheduled for Sunday. But attempts to conduct the election on Sunday was also impossible, prompting INEC to declare the election inconclusive.
According to Baritor Kpagir, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) the cancellation which was endorsed by the national headquarters was due to reports that the poll in Southern Ijaw was substantially marred by violence, ballot box snatching, intimidation and other irregularities.
He said a new date for a fresh poll in the area would be announced in due course.
Southern Ijaw is the biggest council in the state with over 120,000 voting strength, which would decide the eventual winner of the election.
Before the cancellation of polls in Southern Ijaw, results from seven of the eight local councils of Bayelsa had been announced. Governor Seriake Dickson, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate was already leading with 105,748 votes, against his closest challenger, Chief Timipre Sylva of the All Progressives Congress, APC, who got 72,594 votes.
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The Nation reports that prior to the cancellation of the election in Southern Ijaw, some women and youths belonging to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), dressed in 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.
Some minutes after their protest, some militants from Southern Ijaw arrived at the collation centre, escorting two Hilux vans, one of them with Bayelsa Government House registration number: BYGH145.
The two vehicles which were loaded with uncounted ballot materials arrived without any security escort or INEC official.
The militants 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.
However, Sylva has rejected the cancellation of the election in Southern Ijaw, describing it as rape of democracy, The Punch reports.
Addressing a news conference on Monday in Yenagoa, Sylva claimed that he had already won by a large margin that made him the winner of the election and that was why the INEC decided to cancel the poll.
He said if the election in Southern Ijaw must be cancelled by the electoral commission, they must also cancel the poll in Ekeremor, Nembe, Sagbama and other places.
“When the REC saw that the APC was leading, he cancelled it. This is very unacceptable to our party. If they want us to accept it, they must cancel the elections in Ekeremor, Sagbama, part of Ogbia and Nembe,” Sylva said.
Daily Sun reports that the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) commended INEC’s decision to cancel the election.
The party’s national publicity secretary, Olisa Metuh, claimed the INEC’s decision was informed by the courage of the people who fearlessly curtailed APC’s rigging machinery.
According to him, this led to the cancellation of the elections in Southern Ijaw area.
In other news, the coronation of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Adeyeye held yesterday.
The Guardian reports that it was well attended by prominent Nigerians like vice president, Yemi Osinbajo, governors Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun), Akinwumi Ambode (Lagos) Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo), national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu, Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar and more than 200 traditional rulers.
The new Ooni, who was full of gratitude to God for making him a monarch, said: “It is indeed a new dawn. It is our God that makes a king, and I am grateful to God for preparing me for this throne. I did not become a king by accident, God designed it to be so because as a prince, I had personal dealings with over 20 kings and I will explore this to work for the unity of all Yoruba monarchs.”
Source: Legit.ng
