November 14, (THEWILL) – Aggrieved political parties that took part in the November 11 governorship election in Bayelsa State have rejected the result, vowing to go to the election tribunal as the election was fraught with rigging, manipulation, vote buying and selling, killing, intimidation and outright connivance with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to cancel results willfully.
INEC had declared Governor Douye Diri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) winner of the election after he polled 175,196 votes to defeat his closest rival, Chief Timpere Sylva of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who scored 110,108 votes.
Addressing a joint press conference in Yenagoa, State Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Allen Domotimi Amadein, posited that the party was not comfortable with the result announced, and alleged that INEC cancelled results of the All Progressives Congress (APC) strongholds, with 26,000 votes cancelled in Nembe and considered as vexatious the declaration of PDP as the winner, which is a broad day robbery on democracy.
The SDP, therefore, rejected the result and called for its cancellation or re-run as it was not in support and ready to go to the tribunal to challenge the result declared.
Also speaking, Dr Joel Tubonimi, Chairman of New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Bayelsa State chapter, said a new pattern has been introduced by INEC against its regulations, which is the allocation or apportionment of votes at will to political parties they considered minor, saying that as a political party, NNPP is not a minor party as it has the same value and size with the so-called big political parties.
He said NNPP is not comfortable with the ugly newly introduced pattern and was poised to join forces with other political parties to go to the tribunal to seek redress, as the party has totally rejected the result unless its votes that were wrongly apportioned were restored.
Tubonimi said his party’s votes in Ward 10 Unit 21 of Southern Ijaw Local Government Area, where his members voted massively, were not recorded.
He vowed that until the right thing was done by INEC, they would not accept the result and after due consultation with the National office, their next line of action would be made known to the public.
Meanwhile, Mr Charles Oyibo of the Labour Party (LP) averred that the party cannot gloss over the avalanche of irregularities and flagrant abuse of law and order as BIVAs were bypassed after INEC spent money to train ad-hoc staff, describing what happened as electoral fraud and queried the results that were cancelled at INEC office in Yenagoa.
He also disclosed that there was massive vote buying and selling, as taxpayers’ money was deployed for vote buying and inducement with foodstuffs and wrappers, video clips of which he is ready to tender as evidence when required.
Oyibo said the taxpayers’ money would have been deployed to fund moribund industries in the State, and called for outright cancellation of the results. He said after due consultation with the National office, they would make the position of the party known.
Also speaking, Chairman of the National Rescue Movement, Williams Parker, said the party was poised to rescue the State from hunger and underdevelopment but the people were denied the opportunity to demonstrate that through the ballot box, and as aggrieved persons they aligned with the cancellation of results, especially in three local government areas – Brass, Southern Ijaw and Nembe.
He said INEC officials, such as the National Commissioner in charge of Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom and Edo States, Mrs May Agbamuche-Mbu, knows the guidelines and connived with other officials to flagrantly disobey the laid down guidelines, which will be challenged at the tribunal.
Okala Azibaola of the People’s Redemption Party (PRP) also supported the cancellation and re-run of the poll as the party felt disappointed with INEC, saying he had it on authority that the ruling party, PDP, had an alliance with INEC officials.
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