Political
parties in Bayelsa State on
Wednesday accused
the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of appointing the brother
to the state Governor, Mr. Seriake Dickson, as a Collation Officer for theApril 18 rescheduled elections.
The state’s Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Mr.
Baritor Kpagih, shifted the House of Assembly elections in eight constituencies
citing insufficient electoral materials.
But the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), the All
Progressive Congress (APC) and other parties in Yenagoa said INEC appointed
Dickson’s brother and General Manager of the state’s Newspaper Corporation, Mr.
Charles Tambo, as a collation officer.
They specifically said that Tambo had been directed by
INEC to be a collation officer for Kololuma-Opokuma Constituency 1.
Speaking on behalf of other parties, Mr. Preye Ozoro and
Mr. Ebire Tarabina, the candidates of APGA for Kolokuma-Opokuma 1 and 2
respectively, alleged that Tambo was appointed to enable the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) hijack the results of the election.
The candidates also accused the state government of a
plot to arrest them and 15 strong supporters of the opposition parties before
the Saturday’s elections.
They named the opposition supporters penciled down for
arrest by the government using security agencies as Kwesi Zikiye, Gesiye Isowo,
Sylvanus Abila, Inemo Oruebimiekumo, Chamberlin Ikidi and Jackson Suokiri.
Others are Inemotimi Angalapele, Ibarakumo Ikosomi,
Pereowei Agura, Victor Vianana, Ebikeme Okoringa, Akpoegberi Ogidiga, Ikuro
Igarando and Alex Oruebimiekumo.
They recalled that the government had once arrested
persons perceived to be opposed to the PDP and unlawfully detained them for two
weeks in Yenagoa and Zone 6, Benin, Edo State.
According to them, the candidates of APC for
Kolokuma-Opokuma Constituency 1, Mr. Taripredou Aketi and APGA’s Yenagoa
Constituency 1, Mr. Kingdom Blessing, suffered the same fate.
“Emboldened by its operation-arrest-
and-detain-our-opponent strategy, the Bayelsa State Government has perfected
plans to visit the same fate upon us and our supporters in Kolokuma-Opokuma.
“The Bayelsa State Government also plan to flood
Kolokuma-Opokuma on the Election Day with thugs, fake military officers and
policemen, essentially to cause violence and bloodbath with a view to generally
intimidate our supporters from coming out to vote”, they said.
The candidates appealed to INEC to withdraw Tambo and
replace him with a university lecturer no associated with the state government.
They also urged the commission not to release any
essential electoral material for Kolokuma-Opokuma to the state government or
its agents.
They also appealed to the commission and security
agencies to prevailed on the governor not to tour Kolokuma-Opokuma on the
election day as it would instigate crisis in the area.
But Kpagih acknowledged receiving a petition written by
candidates of APGA over the appointment of Tambo, but said the name had been
removed from the list of electoral officers.
“I am barely three months old here. I don’t know anybody.
So, when I received the petition, I went to check the list and discovered that
Charles Tambo’s name was there. We quickly removed it. So, the name is no
longer in the list,” he said.
He advised parties with complaints to approach him
instead of dissipating their energy writing petitions.
Source:
The Nation
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