16th November, 2019
A former Acting Governor of Bayelsa state, Chief Nestor Binabo, said the electoral materials for his Agoro Ward 11, Sagbama Local Government Area, Bayelsa State, are yet to arrive.
“The ward has 22 units. But the materials have not gotten to the ward. Voters in my ward are stranded because there are no materials to vote. We learnt that the People’s Democratic Party has diverted the materials and its agents are currently thumb printing.
“We are calling on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to retrieve the materials and send them to our ward. We want to vote because that is the essence of democracy,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Bayelsa government controlled by the PDP has expressed reservations on the ongoing governorship election in the state.
The Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Daniel Iworiso-Markson, said there were incidents of violence in areas considered the strongholds of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
“My area in Opume Ogbia is peaceful so far even though a number of people Express apprehension over the number of soldiers deployed in my polling unit. Over the years, Opume has been known to be very peaceful. But we were surprised by the large number of soldiers, who came here.
“We have been receiving reports of incidents across the state particularly in Southern Ijaw, Yenagoa especially in Famgbe where sporadic shooting was reported. People were scampering for safety. A number of people had been injured and electoral materials hijacked.
“In Southern Ijaw, Ward 17 they actually destroyed Electoral materials with the voting process disrupted. In Imiringi, the report reaching us was that armed military men, now what is not clear to us is whether these are real military men or whether they are thugs given military uniform, hijacked the materials and took them somewhere for thumb-printing.
“The reports are coming in their torrents but what is not clear is the role of security agencies deployed for this election given the backdrop of the police deploying 32,000 personnel, you be shocked that in Yenagoa, the state capital, there were reported cases of violence, but the presence of security agencies is not felt in those areas.
“In Opolo, thugs came and shot everywhere and scared away voters and you know these are the strongholds of the PDP. A number of the local government areas is our strongholds. I am afraid that this election has fallen short of the required expectation in Bayelsa.
“Well it is still early period, we are waiting to see the final outcome, but from the initial reports across the local government it gives us cause for concern”.