The gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives
Congress (APC) in the recently concluded Bayelsa governorship election,
Timipre Sylva, shifted the battle for the Bayelsa polls to the court as
he vowed to challenge the results at the elections petitions tribunal.
On Monday, he assembled a legal team which will commence the process
of seeking redress over the alleged irregularities immediately.
Sunday evening the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
declared the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the
incumbent Governor of Bayelsa State, Seriake Dickson the winner.
Addressing newsmen on Monday, Mr. Sylva alleged that local
representatives of INEC and the PDP worked in unison to rig the election
in favor of the PDP.
He said that he had officially complained before the election that
the present structure of INEC in the State could not conduct a credible
election since it was originally designed to deliver Bayelsa to former
President Goodluck Jonathan and the PDP in last year’s general
elections.
“I said in the beginning that I do not have confidence in Resident
Electoral Commissioner (REC), Baritoh Kpagih, and the Administrative
Secretary, that I did not expect a fair treatment if these people were
to preside over the election.
“I said so over and over again. I even produced it in writing and
submitted a petition. Usually before elections of this nature, the INEC
officials are switched. But this time, they chose to keep this team that
was already in place set up by the PDP as a rigging machine.
“This was the same team that returned almost 100 percent of all votes
in Bayelsa to the former President [Goodluck Jonathan]. And we felt
that these people could not have given us free and fair treatment,” he
noted.
Mr. Sylva maintained that the election could have been declared
inconclusive given that 53,000 votes were still outstanding as cancelled
votes.
According to him, in places where APC won, the results were cancelled, but where PDP won, the results were sustained.
He further alleged that the rigging started with the distribution of
materials, as these materials were taken to voting centers by vehicles
provided by the PDP and diverted.
According to him, the same set of collation officers, and Supervisory
Presiding Officers (SPOs) used in the December election were used
during Saturday’s election; a situation he argued aided the rigging
process.
Meanwhile the Director of Publicity of the PDP campaign organisation,
Jonathan Obuebite issued a statement on Monday indicating that the
popularity of the Party and the track record of Governor Dickson were
the reasons Bayelsans re-elected him.
He noted that the result indicated that Bayelsa State is a stronghold
of the PDP, adding that APC would always find it difficult to win an
election in the State.
Fourteen out of the twenty political parties that fielded candidates
during the Bayelsa governorship election, have urged Mr. Sylva to accept
defeat.
The political parties, which endorsed the results of the poll,
expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the January 9 supplementary
poll and called on Mr. Sylva to join forces to move the State forward.
Addressing newsmen in Yenagoa, Bayelsa chairman of Independent
Democrat, (ID) Prince Elemah, flanked by State Chairmen of the other
Parties, commended the efforts of INEC in the distribution of electoral
materials to remote areas of the State and providing a level playing
ground for all during the supplementary poll.
Political parties which endorsed the polls results are:
All Progressives Grand Alliance, (APGA); Democratic Peoples Party,
(DPP); African Democratic Congress, (ADC); KOWA, Democratic People’s
Congress, (DPC); Social Democratic Party, (SDP), African Peoples
Alliance, (APA); Independent Democrats, (ID); Allied Congress Party of
Nigeria, (ACPN); Peoples Party of Nigeria, (PPN); United Progressive
Party, (UPP); People for Democratic Change, (PDC); New Nigeria Peoples
Party, (NNPP), and Mega Progressives Peoples Party, (MPPP).
