NEWS: NIGERIA - Bayelsa: My victory’ll be restored soon —Sylva

THE candidate of All Progressives Congress, APC, in the inconclusive Bayelsa State governorship election, Chief Timipre Sylva, has urged his supporters to remain calm over the issues arising from the exercise because the electoral process has not been completed.

The former governor, in a statement by the Director, Media and Publicity of the Sylva-Igiri Campaign Organisation, Chief Nathan Egba, urged APC faithful and Bayelsans to remain positive and prepare for the best Christmas gift ever.

The statement read in part: “Our leaders, the APC governorship candidate Chief Sylva and the Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, are working hard to resolve the issues around the so-called cancellation of the Southern Ijaw Local Government Area election results.

“We are very confident that our victory will be restored in no distant time and our candidate, Chief Sylva, declared as the duly elected governor of Bayelsa State having won the majority of votes and satisfied all requirements of the Electoral Law.

“As a party, we know that whatever happened at Southern Ijaw LGA could not have been worse than what took place in Sagbama and Ekeremor, yet those results were not cancelled. Let us remain positive and prepare for the best Christmas gift ever.”

Polls not credible —TMG
Sylva spoke as one of the observer groups in the election, the Transition Monitoring Group, TMG, faulted the conduct of some stakeholders in the exercise, saying the election lacked credibility.

TMG, which said it deployed 300 observers in the state, condemned the military and other security agencies in the state for doing the bidding of certain players and refusing to act professionally despite earlier warnings three months before the governorship election regarding flash points.

Unveiling its preliminary report in Abuja, Chairman of the group, Ibrahim Zikirullahi, said: “TMG highlights again with grave concern, persistent challenges in the organization of credible elections in Bayelsa State. In the seven LGAs where elections held on Saturday, December 5, 2015, proper accreditation procedures were not followed in many polling units. TMG observers reported that in 42 per cent of polling units observed, individuals were permitted to vote if the card reader could not read their PVCs. In 11 per cent of polling units observed, significant numbers of individuals – 26 or more, were permitted to vote although the card reader could not read their PVCs.

“In 19 per cent of polling units observed, 26 or more individuals were accredited to vote while voting was ongoing. According to INEC’s Approved Guidelines and Regulations for the Conduct of 2015 General Elections, accreditation should be declared closed before voting commences (sections 14a and 16a).”

According to the group, the above findings suggest that the governorship election in Bayelsa State was characterized by serious irregularities throughout the process, which call to question the credibility of the election.

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