• Bayelsa police deny attack on Jonathan
• PDP govs accuse APC of cloning PVCs
• Apathy high among residents
WITH just three days to the Bayelsa State governorship election next Saturday, the race for Creek Haven, as the seat of government is known, has reached a frantic pace. The two main candidates are now digging deep into their reservoir of resources to emerge as winner.

Governor Seriake Dickson of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress’ Chief Timipre Sylva, have during the past week, doubled their efforts towards winning the election.

But the spectre of violence may not be far away as online media have been awash with stories that suspected thugs of the APC attacked former President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday. The Bayelsa State Police Command has, however, denied this.

The attackers were said to have intercepted and chased the motorcade conveying the former president from Julius Berger Bridge area of the state capital to the entrance of his private residence in Kpansia area of Yenagoa before they were overpowered by security operatives attached to Jonathan.

But in an interview with The Guardian, the state Police Public Relations Officer Botswat Asinim said: “There was no truth whatsoever in the stories. What happened was that a group of youths, who always act as praise singers for politicians, saw a convoy and because they were oblivious of the identity of the occupiers of the convoy, took after the vehicles until they got to the Yenagoa residence of Dr. Jonathan.

When they realised that the occupier was the former president, they made an attempt to run away and security details of the former president, pursued and arrested them and took them to the nearest police station, according to the dictates of their profession.
‘‘When a search was conducted on the arrested youths, no arm or dangerous weapon was found on them to suggest premeditated plans to harm Dr. Jonathan,’’ he explained.

Ahead of Saturday, accusations and counter-accusations have not been in short supply. But there is considerable apathy among Bayelsa voters towards the polls.

A retired school principal, Chief Ebi Egbe asked The Guardian rhetorically: ‘‘What have we as a people benefitted from them, since our foray into politics?
‘‘None of these people who call themselves politicians has done more for the people than those of us, who have produced them as teachers. They are only after their pockets.”
Endorsements galore for candidates

The campaign train of Dickson which may have taken off slowly, quickened pace about a few weeks ago, while Sylva was still grappling with the challenges of funds and a court case.

While Dickson has covered a lot of ground visiting most nooks and crannies of the state, his challenger, Sylva during the week, raised the ante when he stormed the Ogbia community area of the state, a move political observers, believe was daring for the fact that Ogbia, is the home local council of Jonathan.

If Dickson’s mega rally was the shot in the arm his campaign needed, Sylva’s visit to Ogbia and the huge turnout of people even in the rain must have boosted his confidence.

An endorsement for Sylva by the generality of the people is expected to propel him into a position to win the election.

Sylva’s campaign train moved from Otuokpoti, Anyama, Otuogiri, stopping at Ogbia town where the governorship candidate and his entourage, including Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, met with traditional rulers and chiefs who blessed and endorsed him, referring to him as “governor-elect” and “incoming governor of Bayelsa.”

Again on Sunday, Sylva got a boost, when he received a symbolic endorsement from the people of Amarata, a suburb of Yenagoa where he was presented with a ‘lantern,’ which is a symbol of light. Sylva, who arrived at the venue of the event, few minutes before midnight, was treated to a rousing welcome by the people of the community who had waited for him.

Expectedly, the former governor took a swipe at his opponent while addressing the crowd. He said: “When I look around and I see the beautiful people of Amarata Ward Four, I look at my left and right, then my front and back and I see all these people around me, I ask myself: Who else is left ? I can see all well-meaning people here.
“In Bayelsa, we cannot continue to do things that have not given us progress. Do you like the way Bayelsa is? Is this the way a state capital ought to be? We should take away dirty people, dirty people must go because they use their dirt to litter the city every where.”

Another boost to Sylva’s efforts came yesterday when the Commissioner of Science, Technology and Manpower Development in Dickson’s administration, Ndutimi Komonibo resigned his appointment. Informed sources told The Guardian that Komonibo’s resignation, came to the state government as a shock.

Until his resignation, Komonibo was a visible and highly influential member of the Dickson administration and his departure was seen as an unfavorable development to his re-election.

In his resignation letter, which was made available to The Guardian, Komonibo, said he resigned to enable him to face his business and other progressive venture that needed his attentions.

Both parties have also been involved in strategies that are outside a clean, campaign frame, with sponsored advertisements accusing each other of certain indiscretions.

Meanwhile, the PDP Governors Forum has accused the APC of plans to rig the polls using cloned Permanent Voter Cards, (PVCs) and fake security agents.

The forum in a statement by its Director General, Earl Osaro Onaiwu on yesterday in Abuja, alleged that the APC had brought in some foreign security experts who were lodged in a Port Harcourt hotel to effect the PVCs’ cloning in order to circumvent the electoral process in Bayelsa State.
“We are raising this alarm so as to alert Nigerians, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) NEC and the international community to the machinations of the APC against democracy and the right of the people to freely elect those that should govern them.”

Also, the PDP governors alleged that part of the sinister plot of the APC included “the procurement of police and military uniforms for agents of the party to wear on the election day to achieve their plans to rig the poll.”
Apathy high among Bayelsa people

But the endorsements, accusations and counter-accusations notwithstanding, there is no mistaking the high level of apathy towards Saturday’s polls.

Like the retired principal, a food seller, Mrs. Bisi Kolapo told The Guardian: ‘‘I came here in the year the state was created, with my husband from Osun State. Things were okay, when the military people were in charge. When the politicians came, they made a lot of promises to the people, but we realised what is going on, they have turned into monsters.
‘‘They have failed the people, they tell lies to get the people’s votes and they are so gullible in this state that any fool with small money can just come and use bread to scoop their soup. Where we come from, people look at character, but here people look for money.’