Ahead of the December 5 gubernatorial elections in Bayelsa State, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, says it has uncovered a dangerous plot by the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) to rig the governorship polls in the state.
This allegation was contained in a statement released to newsmen in Yenagoa and signed by State Secretary of the PDP, Hon. Godspower Keku.
According to him, the APC leaders in the state led by former governor Timipre Sylva, is currently engaged in a cheap recruitment exercise of wooing supporters to defect to his party.
PDP said that Sylva has been dropping the name of President Mahammadu Buhari, assuring unsuspecting members of the public that the President has given his word that he will deploy federal might in the forthcoming governorship elections in the state, as part of the strategy of the APC to wrest power from the PDP-led government.
The former governor was reported to have summoned a closed door meeting involving some members of the security agencies and officials of INEC in the 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 his statement further reiterated that the defectors are traitors and enemy to the Ijaw Nation, noting that the “people are living witnesses to what happened in the state when the 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 who are 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 elites 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 issued Tuesday evening in Yenagoa, said the youths 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 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 has also called on the security agencies to take proactive steps to place the leaders of the APC in the state on the watch list, warning that no one should be allowed to perpetrate crisis in the state and go scold free.
While noting that election is not war or fight, the party deplored the move by the APC to forcefully take over the the building that was used as venue for their declaration which it claimed is a property of the state government.
The said property, according to PDP, was illegally acquired by the former governor, Timipre Sylva, through funds unscrupulously gotten from the state treasury at a whopping sum of N200 million.
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