My Community have not produce election results in 15 years ― Bayelsa Monarch

THE Ibenana-owei of Ekpetiama Kingdom, King Bubaraye Dakolo, yesterday said his community, Gbarantoru, in Bayelsa State has not produced election results for the past 15 years as a result of electoral violence.

King Dakolo who is a first class traditional monarch, stated this during a stakeholder workshop on a violence free, fair and credible 2019 General Election, organized by the Stakeholders Democracy Network (SDN) in Yenagoa.

According to him, to ensure that the community experience a violence free election this year, the community is working closely with the Nigeria Police to ensure that the hoodlums responsible for the act are put behind bars before February 16.

Explaining further, he said “as I speak with you, the boys responsible for this anomaly are still working freely in the community. And if they are allowed to work freely up to Election Day, we may not have a violence free election.

“So the option we have adopted, is either they guarantee genuine repentance or they would be put behind bars before Election Day. We are working closely with the Nigeria Police closely on this matter and we would not take it lightly with anybody who comes to our community to foment trouble on Election Day.”

He also called on politicians contesting for the forthcoming general election to be of good conduct and refrain from using youths as tools to cause mayhem on election.

He said the call became necessary because the preparation for election in the country appears like Nigeria is preparing to go into another civil war and urged security agencies to be on top of their game to ensure the election does not lead to violence.

“From my own view, the preparation for the election in this country is like we are preparing for another civil war. That is not what we want. So the solution relies largely on the electorates who have the power decide whether they want to sell their votes or they want their votes to create the positive change we need.”

“If there are no willing vote sellers, there wouldn’t be vote buyers. That is why the story is that if you don’t have money to buy votes, you would lose your election before Election Day.”