Bayelsa SDP candidate says poll highly flawed

Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate for the House of Representatives election in Ogbia Federal Constituency of Bayelsa State, Daniel Iworiso-Markson, has described the conduct of election on Saturday as a charade.

Speaking at a press conference in Yenagoa, Iworiso-Markson, a former Commissioner for Information in the state, said there were anomalies and surprised that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), went ahead to declare a winner.

He said: “House of Representative election in Ogbia on Saturday fell short of expectation on so many levels. The late arrival of electoral materials to most polling units triggered a chain of events that resulted in series of anomalies, which comprehensively compromised the integrity of the elections.

“With the late arrival of INEC officials and materials, election proper commenced very late in most polling units, as late as 2pm and voting in some polling units continued till late into the night, which gave ample room for manipulations.”

The late commencement of voting coupled with the doctoring of the BVAS in most of the polling units created heightened tension among willing voters.”

He called on INEC to revisit the results entered in favour of the PDP in Otueke, Imiringi, Elebele and Otusega, saying we have every reason to believe that results in the aforementioned communities are doctored and skewed to favour the candidate of the PDP. Most of the inec adhoc staff and the security agencies were complicit to this monumental electoral fraud.”