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Tag: Bayelsa poll

  • Bayelsa: Tension as Dickson, Sylva win strongholds

    Bayelsa: Tension as Dickson, Sylva win strongholds

     

     

    • PDP wins Yenagoa, Ogbia,
      Sagbama; APC sweeps Brass LG
    • INEC declares fresh results
      at 11.00 am today
    • Gov weeps over ‘14 killed’
      on polling day
    • Police: No one died during
      supplementary elections
    • Ballot-box snatching,
      violence mar elections

     

    Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State yesterday maintained his lead  in the supplementary governorship election in the state as  the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) released official results from Yenagoa,Brass,Sagbama and Ogbia local Government areas.

    Dickson won  in Yenagoa ,Sagbama and Ogbia while Sylva was the clear winner in Brass.

    In Yenagoa Local Government Area Dickson polled 839 votes to Sylva’s 448.

    The consolidated results for Yenagoa  showed that the governor got  25,097 as against Sylva’s  15,011.

    Sylva,on the other hand  recorded 1679 votes  in  six polling units in his local government area –Brass – to bring his total there to 23,434 votes. Dickson got only five votes in the area.

    Altogether his votes in Brass now stand at 6517.

    In Ogbia, local government area of former President Goodluck Jonathan,1290 voters in 27 polling units  threw their lot with Dickson,extending his lead  there from 13051 to 14341 votes.  Sylva got  139 votes leaving his total votes in Ogbia at 9249.

     

    Dickson got 180 votes in Sagbama  Local Government area and Sylva 111.

    The commission took a break at 2am this morning and is expected to resume at 11am today for the declaration of the results  for   Nembe, Ekeremor and the decisive Southern Ijaw .

    Southern Ijaw has the largest number of voters in the state,almost same as the seven other local government areas put together.

    Before the  break, the  APC agent in Brass, Mr. Denis Otiotio,had staged a walkout from the collation centre after accusing the Returning Officer of denying him an opportunity to address issues raised by the PDP agent.

    Hours before INEC began to broadcast the result,the PDP and the APC had  launched into a game of wits with the camps of  Governor Dickson and Chief Sylva of the APC  claiming victory for their candidates.

    The PDP made the first move when it said in a statement issued from the Government House,Yenagoa that Dickson was leading in the supplementary election in the Southern Ijaw Local Government Area and 101 units.

    The party said the  results collated by it in various polling units and wards across the state showed that Dickson  had widened its initial lead of over 33000 votes.

    It claimed to have  swept the polls in units and wards in Amassoma, Otuan, Ogbia, Nembe Ogbolomabiri, Ekpetiama and some other communities.

    It said: “The PDP, as at the time of filing this report ,polled 7,234 votes while APC is having 1,948 votes. Decentralization of election materials policy adopted by the Independent National Election Commission, (INEC) assisted in the early arrival of materials in some communities, even though there were reported cases of hijacking of election materials and violence in some areas.

    “Voters, as reliably informed, were resolute in their determination to put the governorship election behind them which was declared inconclusive by INEC on December, 5 and 6, 2015.

    “To ensure the success of the poll, the Nigeria Police Force deployed 5,000 officers to the various polling units across the state.

    “Political thugs suspected to be working for the leading opposition party were not deterred by the presence of the security operatives, as they unleashed terror on Ekeremor, Famgbe and Nembe communities.”

    But the Sylva/Igiri Campaign Organization (SICO) alerted security agencies to  an alleged plot by Governor. Seriake Dickson, to seize broadcast stations and declare himself the winner of the poll.

    SICO in a statement signed by its Director, Media and Publicity, Chief Nathan Egba    appealed to security agencies to ensure that no one uses  any of the broadcast stations in the state to either announce election result or incite people against the opposing political parties or the Federal Government.

    Egba said: “It would be recalled that Governor Seriake Dickson of the PDP regrettably deployed the state owned radio station, Glory 97.1FM, Yenagoa and other broadcast stations to heighten the tension and incite the people to violence in the aftermath of the botched December 5th and 6th governorship poll.

    “We decided to raise the issue to draw attention to the ongoing desperate attempts of Governor Dickson to arbitrarily announce a concocted results through the social media and state –owned media organisations and declare himself winner of the governorship election.

    “For the avoidance of doubt, it is to be noted that the purported attempts of Governor Dickson to either by himself, cronies or agents to declare himself winner is clearly in contravention of the Electoral Act as amended and also unconstitutional to the extent that such an action offends the clear provisions of the 1999 constitution that established the Independent National Electoral Commission,(INEC).”

    Egba also asked  Dickson to consider the criminal consequences of any attempt to declare himself as winner of the election, saying it would amount to usurping the powers of the electoral body, INEC.

    Soon after his reaction to the PDP claim,Egba issued APC’s own account of the election result saying early results from the rerun election indicated that Sylva was in the lead.

    He said Sylva  had effectively cancelled  the 33,150 votes  with which Dickson  led in the inconclusive December 5th and 6th election.

    Sylva,according to Egba, secured majority votes 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.

    His words: “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.

    Egba said the APC members were excited about the results trickling in since Saturday evening and urged members and supporters to be upbeat in anticipation of a total victory in the election.

     

  • Soldiers arrest ballot box snatchers in Bayelsa

    Two persons suspected to be agents of one of the political parties involved in Saturday’s supplementary governorship election in Bayelsa have been arrested for allegedly snatching a ballot box.

    The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the suspects were arrested by soldiers at Otuokpoti Unit 1, Ward 2, Ogbia Local Government Area, where the box was allegedly snatched.

    The suspects were said to have forcefully carried the ballot box while polling was ongoing at the unit.

    The incident caused pandemonium at the unit but after the suspects were taken away, accreditation and voting resumed.

    An Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) official in the ward, who did not want to be named, confirmed that security reinforcement had been sent to the area and that election would continue.

    A member of the security team in the ward said the suspects would be taken to Yenagoa, the state capital, while investigation would be carried out on the incident.

    However, police in the state said they were yet to receive report on the incident.

    Spokesman of the command, Mr. Asinim Butswat, said it was possible that such incident occurred in the polling area but that the command had not received report on it.

  • Bayelsa: Voting concluded, results’ collation ongoing

    Voting has been concluded in some polling units in Bayelsa.

    Collation of results is currently ongoing.

  • Bayelsa: Thugs snatch election materials in Otuopoti

    Thugs on Saturday invaded a polling unit at Oguta-Otuopoti in Bayelsa and snatched election materials from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials in the area.

    The thugs threw the materials into the river before soldiers shot into the air to scare them away.

    The materials were later retrieved from the river.

     

  • Poll: Shooting reported in Bayelsa community

    Sporadic shooting has been reported in ward 1, Agoibiri, South Ijaw local government area of Bayelsa State.

    Two persons were wounded by stray bullets.

    Angry youths were said to be in possession of the voting materials.

  • Arrest politicians that violate electoral law – Ijaw group

    An Ijaw group, Eye of Niger Delta (END),on Friday called on security agents to arrest any politician that try to subvert the will of the people during Saturday’s supplementary governorship election in Southern Ijaw and others wards in Bayelsa State.

    The group urged the indigenes of Southern Ijaw to protect their votes and vote for any political party of their choice without selling out their consciences to desperate politicians.

    The leader of the group, Comrade Victor Tari Ben, spoke in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, while briefing journalists on efforts of his organization to sensitize youths in Southern Ijaw on the need to give peace a chance.

    Tari, who said his organization is one of the local observers’ group accredited to monitor the election, noted that his organization had before now organized three days sensitization rally against violence and electoral manipulation in Southern Ijaw.

    He said: “Our investigation as an organization showed that politicians were responsible for most of the violence that rocked the last Bayelsa governorship election. In this supplementary, we have sent  a strong message to security agencies advising them to  arrest any politician who undermines the electoral law.”

  • Voting begins in Bayelsa poll

    Voting has commenced in several polling units in Saturday’s Bayelsa supplementary governorship election.

    The units where voting has commenced are – Otuokpoti, Ogbia and Ogbolomabiri among others.

  • Accreditation ongoing in Bayelsa poll

    Accreditation of voters is ongoing in some polling units in Bayelsa supplementary governorship election.

    The polling units are PU06/08/10/005, 06/08/10/006 and 06/08/10/009, Ekpetiama, Yenagoa.

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is conducting a supplementary election in South Ijaw local government area after cancelling election held in the area last December.

  • Bayelsa poll: Tension as Delta, Rivers ex-militants regroup

    Bayelsa poll: Tension as Delta, Rivers ex-militants regroup

    • Security surveillance on ex-militant leader, Jonathan’s aide

    Tension is building up afresh in Bayelsa State ahead of the January 9 crucial rerun governorship election in Southern Ijaw Local Government area and 112 other units in the state.

    Ex-militants from Delta and Rivers states are said to be re-grouping for the purpose of rigging the election in favour of one of the candidates, and unleashing violence where and when necessary.

    Southern Ijaw LG with well over 120,000 registered voters – the largest in the state – holds the ace in determining  the next ruler of the state between incumbent   Governor Seriake  Dickson of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Chief Timipre Sylva of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    Dickson garnered only 33,000 votes more than Sylva from the other seven local government areas of the state in the December 5  and 6 inconclusive election.

    Voting in Southern Ijaw LG during that period was cancelled following wide spread violence and electoral malpractices.

    Both camps have been accusing each other of plans to rig the rerun election.

    However, security sources in the state capital, Yenagoa, yesterday identified an ex-militant leader from Delta State as the brain behind the alleged assembling of the thugs.

    He is said to be nursing a grudge against the APC for daring to challenge for power in former President Goodluck Jonathan’s home state.

    The ex-militant leader was also said to be the sponsor of the violence that swept across the state during the December 5 and 6 inconclusive election in the state.

    The Delta ex-militant commander reportedly organized the thugs and militants that attacked the home of the Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, in Ekeremor and other violent attacks on APC members in Nembe and parts of the state.

    The security source said yesterday that the ex-militant leader was still desperate to work for PDP on Jan. 9 by deploying his men to cause trouble

    The source said: “This ex-militant leader mobilised ex-militants to launch attack on Ekeremor residence of the  Minister of State for Agriculture, using unsuspecting boys to say he was fighting the Ijaw cause.

    “He wanted one of his men to be made the Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme but he was shocked when the presidency announced the name of Paul Boron.

    “Now, he is leading the fight to stop the APC in Bayelsa not because he likes the candidate of the PDP but because he believes it is payback time. The fight to stop APC is not an Ijaw fight but that of one man.

    “He has succeeded in recruiting two other former leaders of Movement for Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) who are stakeholders in Rivers PDP.

    “It is a case of defeated expectations on the part of one man. These men handled the attack on the Nembe, Brass axis in the December 6 onslaught against the APC in the state.

    “The intention is to use the Bayelsa poll as a template for him to return to the creeks. He is ready to re enact same on January 9 in those areas where election will hold because he is already recruiting boys to do same.”

    The source further said security agencies were investigating a former presidential aide from the Niger Delta region in connection with a plot to launch attacks on oil facilities with a view to destabilising the region.

    He said the aide recently held a meeting with some persons in Ghana to perfect the plot.

    “We are aware of the role of some non-Bayelsan ex-militant leaders who are supporters of one of the candidates.

    “We are on top of the game and this time around, we will not take chances because the plan is to frustrate the electoral process and use same to launch coordinated attacks on oil facilities in the Niger Delta region.

    “We are watching with keen interest and early signs of such dastardly acts are beginning to manifest; their meeting places are already identified and much surveillance is deployed. What we can do on our part is to nip whatever unsavory move in the bud.

    ”It is also to our knowledge that a former presidential aide held a meeting with some persons ?in Ghana last month to perfect the plans for the crisis they want to cause in the region.”

    When contacted, the spokesperson for the Operation Pulo Shield (OPS), formerly known as Joint Task Force (JTF), Col. Ado Isa, said the OPS was not in charge of monitoring the election.

    He said the election was being supervised by a special military team codenamed Operation Safe Conduct (OSC).

    But the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Butswat Asinim, said the police were ready to surmount all security challenges during the rerun poll.

    He said the police would dominate the land and waterways, adding that there was no cause for alarm.

     

  • Bayelsa: I am in guber race to win – Sylva

    Bayelsa: I am in guber race to win – Sylva

    The governorship candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa State, Chief Timipre Sylva, said, on Thursday he was in the governorship race to win and not to withdraw.

    He said persons fabricating stories about his withdrawal from the governorship race were engaging in a failed effort to save their principal, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Seriake Dickson, from “sure and imminent defeat.”

    Sylva, who spoke in Yenagoa on Thursday through his media adviser, Mr. Doifie Buokoribo, advised Dickson to stop dissipating energy on falsehood, hypocrisy, and deceit.

    “Dickson should wait for the outcome of the governorship election and try to control his outbursts of fear and deceit, which cannot sway any Bayelsan, as the people already know better,” Buokoribo said.

    He added: “The falsehood about Sylva’s withdrawal from the governorship contest that Dickson had tried to mar with his uncivilised vituperations and open call to violence is part of the same strategy of deceit and violence, which Dickson and PDP have employed since the beginning of the election process.

    “In lie after lie, which we have roundly exposed, Dickson has shown that he has nothing other than deception to offer the people of Bayelsa in the ongoing election. This latest chicanery about Sylva’s withdrawal, like the others before it, will not give Dickson any reprieve from the sure and imminent defeat awaiting him.”