Politics

Assembly Polls: IPAC warns of planned supression of voters in Bayelsa

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2 years ago

Ebiowei Lawal

The Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) in Bayelsa State says it has uncovered a plot by a particular political party to violently attack leaders of other political parties and their supporters in Saturday’s State House of Assembly elections, particularly in Brass Constituencies 1 and 2 in Brass Local Government Area.

This is coming on the heels of what the IPAC described as the “abysmal loss of two major National Assembly seats, namely the Nembe/Brass Federal Constituency and Bayelsa East Senatorial District, initially occupied by members of the All Progressives Congress (APC), to another party during the just concluded February 25th, 2023 elections.”

The IPAC, during a media briefing at the Ernest Sese Ikoli Press Center in Yenagoa yesterday, said that the planned resort to violence by the aggrieved political party is against the electoral norms in Bayelsa State where elections are usually conducted peacefully and violence-free.

The chairman of IPAC in Bayelsa State, Mr Kpodo Brisibe, in his address further explained that the said plot “is indeed a desperate and inexcusable act of cowardice that can only come from a seriously bruised political party that has lost touch with current realities in our state and country. It is absurd to seek to regain relevance through the use of the same past crude means.”

The State IPAC leadership further said that they are alarmed over reports about the movement of armed thugs in and out of the Brass Island immediately after the February 25 election.

“We have been informed about plans to carry out violent attacks in Wards 1, 2, 3 & 4 of Brass LGA on election day on March 18. In Okpoama Ward 4, we hear the APC plans to chase away the large voter population at the Orukumo Polo polling unit 3 and write a fake result in the end.

“Same thing is planned for the Dukuraku Polo unit with 3,031 voters; Iseleama unit 5 with 2,557 voters and the Dikuma polling unit with 741. It is appalling that rather than accepting the new electoral reality to subject themselves to the will of the people, the APC still prefers to travel the old path of violence and hijacking of electoral materials.

“They should know that the times have changed and that old order is gone. We, therefore, ask the APC to rebrand itself and to a new path of honour and self-dignity. We insist that citizens be allowed to express themselves freely on election day without let or hindrance.

“It is also clear that the purpose of the planned attack is to instil fear, foist a siege mentality on the people of Brass LGA and create voter apathy by making the area appear unsafe for the voters on election day. But we appeal to citizens not to be intimidated as everything will be done by security agents to keep the peace on that day.

“We, therefore, call on the Commissioner of Police and all other security agencies to take urgent steps to protect Bayelsans and citizens of Brass local government in particular from all forms of attack before, during and after Saturday’s House of Assembly elections,” Kpodoh added.

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