Ahead of the December 5 governorship election in Bayelsa State, the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has uncovered ‘a dangerous plot’ by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to rig the polls.
This allegation was contained in a statement in Yenagoa, the state capital, by PDP State Secretary, Hon. Godspower Keku.
According to him, APC leaders in the state, led by former Governor Timipre Sylva, are currently engaged in a cheap recruitment exercise of wooing supporters to defect to his (Sylva) party by dropping the name of President Muhammadu Buhari, assuring unsuspecting members of the public that the President has given his word that he will deploy federal might in the governorship election, as part of the strategy of the APC to wrest power from the PDP-led state government led by Governor Henry Seriake Dickson.
The former governor was reported to have summoned a closed door meeting involving some members of the security agencies and officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the South-South state, in what close sources described as a way of showing off to his hordes of supporters milling around that he actually has the backing of the Presidency.
The PDP scribe, in the statement, further reiterated that “the defectors are traitors and enemies to the Ijaw Nation because we are all living witnesses to what happened in this state when these defectors and their leader, Timipre Sylva, plundered the resources of the state for five years.
“Clearly these defectors are opportunists, big time traitors, who left the PDP for the APC on account of their greed and nothing more. Essentially, they do not have anything good to add to the welfare of the people and good governance of the state except their insatiable appetite for corruption and ill-gotten wealth. But Bayelsans are no fools and they have spoken through recent elections that enough is now enough. All of us, well meaning Bayelsans, are all in agreement that our state must also develop like other well-run states in the federation. This is the cornerstone of Governor Dickson’s leadership philosophy but regrettably, some of the political elite are not happy because of the rent factor which benefits only a few of them at the expense of the people”, he said.
Meanwhile, the Ijaw Youth Council Central Zonal Chairman, Comrade Bobolaiyefa Owoupele, in a separate statement in Yenagoa, said the youth had resolved to resist every attempt by the APC-led federal government to use federal might to rig the election in favour of the APC in Bayelsa State.
“We will resist any attempt by the APC-led federal government to interfere in the governorship polls in Bayelsa State. We are using this medium to send a clear message to President Muhammadu Buhari not to allow himself to be deceived because the consequences of a rigged election in this state will be met with very stiff resistance. No one, no matter how highly placed, should be used to cause political instability in this state. The peace and security that the current government has worked so hard to put in place should not be sacrificed on the alter of politics simply because some persons are hell bent in executing a sinister agenda of winning elections at all cost at the expense of the prevailing peace and security in the state.”
The PDP also called on security agencies to take proactive steps and place APC leaders in the state on their watch lists, warning that no one be allowed to perpetrate crisis in the state and go scot free, pointing out that election is not war or fight, rather it is supposed to be a contest.
The party deplored the move by the APC to forcefully take over the building that was used as venue for their declaration “which the public should know is a property of the state government but which former Governor Timipre Sylva illegally bought for himself with funds unscrupulously gotten from the state treasury at a whopping sum of N200 million”, adding that the issue of the said property is in court and it is a subject to litigation.
