Bayelsa Botched Guber Polls: Army Parades Political Thugs

Following the unprecedented violence that heralded the governorship election in Bayelsa state, the Nigerian Army on Saturday paraded 17 suspected political thugs and recovered arms and ammunition arrested during the last election in the state.

The decision to parade the men may have followed the backlash received by the military and other security agencies over the alleged complicity in widespread violence, ballot snatching and hostage taking that characterised the poll in the state.

Speaking to newsmen in Yenagoa at its 2 Brigade Headquarters, the Commander of the 2 Brigade Nigerian Army, Brig- Gen. Stevenson Olabanji, cried that the troops conducted themselves professionally during the contest on December 5 and 6, a suggestion to the contrary was unfair to the troops.

Olabanji said troops were deployed in all local government areas of the state to support the police and secure Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials and materials as well as to boost the confidence of the civilian populace.

The Brigade Commander said despite the presence of the troops and other security agencies, some thugs, armed with dangerous weapons tried to disrupt the smooth process of the election. According to him, at Clough Creek military checkpoint in Ekeremor area of the state, three youths were apprehended with suspected 30 PVCs.

He said the suspects were duly handed over to the Police for further investigation. He said in Southern Ijaw, the area that has now become contentious, the troops met a highly tensed situation caused by members of contending political parties.

Olabanji said there was also information on the high influx of arms into the communities, particularly in Oporoma, the headquarters of the LGA.

“Sporadic gunshots were later heard from Oporoma where it was discovered that unidentified rival gunmen had entered the community in an attempt to storm the INEC collation centre and hijack sensitive materials. It was as a result of this action that led to the swift response by troops of Operation Safe Conduct to track down the miscreants.

“Consequently, there was exchange of fire which led to the arrest of five suspects and recovery of five AK 47 rifles and some ammunition. The suspects were also handed over to the Police.”

He recalled that election in Southern Ijaw was shifted to December 6, 2015 to enable the tension in the area to calm down, but he said unfortunately the sudden appearance of one of the candidates fuelled the already charged atmosphere in Oporoma.

Though Olabanji failed to mention the name of the candidate, but the police had accused the state governor Chief Seriake Dickson of visiting Oporoma in the morning of the election.

He nevertheless said it was at the point of appearance of the candidate that the INEC staff members in the area made it clear to him (candidate) that his action was a breach of the Electoral Act.

“The military officer in charge of the troops deployed in Oporoma also met the candidate and advised him to leave the area because his personal security could not be guaranteed at that time.”

He assured the general public of the readiness of the military to act in line with the provision of the Constitution in providing adequate security for lives and property during elections.

Meanwhile there are indications that Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) may have put the conduct of fresh election in the Southern Ijaw area of Bayelsa state on hold until it gets assurances of adequate security from the authorities of the security agencies.

Fears of insecurity of personnel and election materials may be one of the key reasons delaying the conduct of the governorship election re-run in the troubled Southern Ijaw area of Bayelsa state.
The result of the controversial Southern Ijaw Local Government Area was cancelled by the INEC due massive violence and  irregularities.

Reports by both the electoral body and other independent observers had condemned the acts of thuggery and wanton deployment violence by rival militant groups who was alleged to have snatched ballot materials and held the INEC  ad hoc staff hostage in most cases.

When asked about the decision of the commission regarding the new date for the cancelled election in Bayelsa, Spokesman of the INEC, the Assistant Director in charge of Publicity, Mr. Nick Dazang told THISDAY that since the election in the affected areas was annulled due to violence and insecurity, the Commission is not expected to go ahead with the re-run until there is evidence that the situation has become conducive.

However, THISDAY gathered at the weekend that INEC has activated its inter-agency committee on election security to move into action and ensure that measures were taken to restore order in the troubled areas. This followed series of meetings held by the leadership of the commission with the security agencies aimed at reviewing occurrences during the botched election in Southern Ijaw Local government.

The INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu‎ had said last Monday that the commission has established an inter-agency committee on security that will take care of security concerns at the national, state and local government levels.

“INEC ‎succeeded in formulating the security system. We have inter-agency committee on security both at national and down to local government level. The committee comprises representatives of Army, the police and other security agencies, and the security meeting is to hold on regular basis,” he said.

Even as moves were on to restart the election in Bayelsa state, the two front runners in the Bayelsa governorship tussle, PDP’s candidate and the incumbent governor, Hon. Seriake Dickson and the All Progressives Congress candidate, Chief Timipre Sylva have remained at each other’s throat, heaping blames on why the election was scuttled.

While Sylva is calling on INEC to reconsider the cancellation of the election in the Southern Ijaw, Dickson has applauded the decision of the commission to do away with the crisis-ridden poll in the area. He accused APC of colluding with some security agencies in an attempt to rig the poll in its favour.

In the same vein, while assessing the outcome of the Bayelsa poll, the National Chairman of APC, Chief John Oyegun said the party is not particularly happy with the conduct of the poll, especially with the decision of to allow irregularities recorded in many places.