Gov Dickson Reacts To Cancellation Of Election In Southern Ijaw

[contextly_auto_sidebar id=”2TubJFQaWnbFs3QbMuinyaC6VIcI6Vcq”]Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa state has finally reacted to the cancelled poll in Southern Ijaw as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Monday, December 7.

New Telegraph reports that the governor, who spoke with journalists in Yenagoa, the state capital, applauded the electoral commission for the cancellation of the election in Southern Ijaw.

Dickson, who is the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, had won in six of the seven local governments so far declared while his contender Timipre Sylva of the All Progressives Congress(APC) won in one local government – Brass.

The governor while speaking further on the issues surrounding the election stated that INEC’s decision to conduct the election on Sunday was ill advised. The governor commended Bayelsans for their resilience at ensuring that truth prevailed.

The PDP flag bearer, however, expressed dissatisfaction over the reported killings and kidnap of some corps members who served as ad hoc staff to INEC in Southern Ijaw area of the state.

“I want to use this opportunity to commend INEC at last for taking the right decision. Let me say that it is regrettable that if INEC and the relevant authorities had taken my advice, as Chief Security Officer of the state, the incident would have been avoided.

“They didn’t listen to the honest advice that I gave to them, otherwise, the decision to hold that election on Sunday was ill advised. Regrettably, a lot of people have suffered inconvenience, and a lot of public resources have been expended,” Dickson said.

In a related development, the PDP also applauded “the courage of the people of Bayelsa State in fearlessly curtailing APC’s rigging machinery,” which led to the cancellation of the polls.

Meanwhile, the electoral umpire and the APC have disagreed on the cancellation of the rescheduled election in Southern Ijaw council area. The APC swiftly reacted immediately the state Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Baritor Kpagih, made the announcement on Monday, December 7. He said the decision was propelled by the irregularities and violence that marred the poll in the area.

The national publicity secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, in a statement issued yesterday, also extolled Bayelsans for standing up for their votes against the hordes of harassments by the military and other security agencies allegedly working for the APC, noting that “their choice as a people would have been undermined in the exercise.”