APC, PDP trade accusations over alleged plan to rig Bayelsa polls

BAYELSA State chapters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) are trading accusations over alleged plans to rig the rescheduled governorship election in the state.

PDP on Tuesday alleged there are fresh plans by the APC to rig the election in Southern Ijaw Local Council even as it reiterated its earlier position that the desperation of APC’s candidate, Timipre Sylva for power has resulted in abuse of federal institutions during the aborted election.

But the APC in its response urged the state governor, Seriake Dickson, to live up to the expectations of the people of Bayelsa by performing his most basic responsibility of ensuring the security of lives and property in the state instead of hounding what it described as his perceived political enemies.

The APC also said that it is worried at the increasing rate of violent crime, including kidnappings across the state, which it believes to be a direct result of the abandonment of governance by the Dickson-led administration.

A statement by the Director of Publicity, Restoration Campaign
Organisation of the PDP, Jonathan Obuebite, said: “Sylva and others were hell-bent on using the same federal institutions like the military, police and INEC to rig the election in Southern Ijaw.”

While warning of its consequences, Obuebite stated that PDP had uncovered fresh plans to rig at all costs even when it was glaring that there is no way the APC could possibly win going by the clear margin of win by the PDP, having won six out of the seven local councils declared so far and the fact that Southern Ijaw is stronghold of the PDP.

The Sylva-Igiri Campaign Organisation of Chief Timipre Sylva on its part said it was not surprised by some incidents at a court hearing yesterday.

‘’We are not surprised for instance, that today’s (Tuesday) sitting of the Magistrate Court in Yenagoa to hear the bail application of innocent APC leaders who were arrested on the instructions of the PDP in Oporoma on the morning of Saturday, December 5th was scuttled.

‘’Authoritative sources alleged that some judicial officers were warned to stay away from court. Even defence lawyers were alleged to have been harassed by unknown people, who have apparently taken a cue from all the violence perpetrated by the PDP in various communities in the course of the on-going governorship election.

“Already, we have it on good authority that Governor Dickson and his PDP agents have again started bringing these thugs into the state ahead of the January 9th 2016 re-run in Southern Ijaw and other polling units in six local councils to repeat what they did on December 5 and 6.”