The Peoples Democratic Party Youth Network has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission to avoid subjecting Nigerians to another round of heartaches in the Bayelsa Governorship election scheduled for November 11, 2023.
The Coordinator of the group, Mr James Oputin said in a statement on Friday that the discordant tunes coming from INEC on the issue of the electronic transmission of results is generating so much doubts and tension.
Oputin said that while the State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Ofiong Efanga, jolted Bayelsans by saying that INEC would adopt manual transmission of election results, the Chairman, Prof Mahmud Yakubu has come out to overrule him.
Yakubu had said penultimate Saturday that the results of the November 11 governorship elections in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi states would be transmitted electronically.
Oputin said that the people are doubtful of INEC’s conflicting declarations from the state and the federal level on the sensitive issue of the electronic transmission of results which is expected to drastically reduce the disturbing incidence of electoral violence in the state.
He noted that Nigerians have not forgotten how the same INEC under Prof Yakubu abruptly opted to transmit the presidential election result manually after weeks of intense media reassurances to Nigerians that the election would be transmitted electronically.
He urged Prof Yakubu to prepare the minds of the Bayelsa voters and stakeholders on what to expect as most people seem to have dismissed his statement as yet another ambush on Election Day.
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He said that it is a difficult task to convince a person who has been a victim of trust-related disappointment to believe someone carrying an albatross of trust.
Oputin who called on Nigerians especially the media to hold INEC accountable to its promises also urged the electoral umpire to be conscious of the corrosive effects of failed promises and dampened expectations on its image.
The PDP youth leader said that what the party and indeed Bayelsans expect from INEC is an impartial conduct of the forthcoming election.
He stressed that the overwhelming popularity of the Governor Douye Diri who has executed projects his opponents once considered impossible is what the party needs to retain the Creek Haven, Yenagoa, Government House.
Oputin said that Bayelsans are pleased with Diri who has ensured stability in the state apart from projects such as the Nembe-Brass Road, the Central Senatorial Road and continuation of many huge projects he inherited from his predecessor, Senator Henry Seriake Dickson.