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 the April 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.
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