By our correspondent
The stakeholders’ meeting organised by the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC), ahead of the November 16 governorship election in the Bayelsa State, ended in chaos as elders from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC)engaged in battle of words.
The stakeholders’ meeting, which had in attendance the national chairman of the commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, came to an abrupt end when the Chairman of the PDP Elders forum, Francis Doukpola, alleged that the last presidential and national elections in the state was the worst election conducted in the state and INEC has done anything to correct it.
“We are busy talking about 2015 elections and we forgot that we had an elections in 2019. The the presidential and national assembly elections in the state were the worst elections organised by INEC.
“Because of that elections part of a community is living in Internally Displaced Camp( IDP) because they do not belong to a particular party which INEC has not done anything about it, am talking of the people of Nembe Bassambiri,”Doukpolagha said.
The INEC national chairman and other dignitaries including top security agencies hurriedly left the venue of the programme.
Earlier speaking, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, charged all the political parties participating in the November 16 Bayelsa governorship election to conduct themselves and their supporters to ensure a violence free and credible election.
Yakubu, who disclosed that 45 political parties are fielding candidates for the governorship election as against 20 political parties that fielded candidates in 2015, added that the purpose for convening the meeting was to assure of the commission readiness to conduct a free, fair and credible election.
“We want to assure all stakeholders that the commission is committed to a free and fair process. We shall maintain our integrity and I have said over and over and I wouldn’t be tired of repeating myself that INEC is not a political party. We have no candidate in the Bayelsa state election,” INEC boss said.
In his address, the Resident Electoral Commissioner for the state, Monday Tom, said the Voter Education Department of the commission has been involved in massive sensitization of the electorate particularly those at the grassroots to desist from selling their votes.
“One area that gives me a lot of concern is the issue of void votes. The Voter Education Department is working round the clock to reduce or eliminate this mistake by voters. This is where your responsibility comes in as stakeholders; please enlighten your constituents, members and voters on how to fix their thumb print mark on the ballot paper,”Tom said.
“Still on the issue of sensitization, ADR Directorate has engaged traditional rulers and influential persons in Bayelsa State on mitigation of violence, hate speech and vote buying. The department has also made arrangements to engage the youths and religious leaders of the state,”the resident electoral commissioner added.
