Tony Olutomiwa, Yenagoa
National Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Yakubu Mahmood, has warned politicians against reckless statements which, he said, could hamper the forthcoming governorship election in Bayelsa State.
Prof. Mahmoud gave the warning, on Tuesday, when he visited the office of the Bayelsa State Traditional Rulers Council in Yenagoa, the state capital.
The traditional rulers were led by the Amayanabo Twon Brass, King Alfred Diete-Spiff to the meeting.
He noted that careless statements and actions of politicians needed to be moderated in order to maintain peace during the entire process of the election.
He also warned politicians against recruiting armed thugs and other undesirable elements who, he said, we’re often used o disrupt the process of election from the voting stage to the collation centre.
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While he pointed out that both Bayelsa and Kogi States were most difficult in conducting elections, Mahmoud, however, allayed fears of insecurity against INEC personnel during the election.
He said 10,000 ad-hoc staff would be deployed to Bayelsa State just as he flayed the issue vote buying and other anti-democratic practices during elections.
He stated: “The first one is action and utterances likely to lead to the breach of the peace during electioneering campaign, during voting on the Election Day and during the collation of results.
“In 2015, up to the eight local government areas in Bayelsa State, we conducted elections conclusively and made declaration of results only in one local government area, Kolokuma-Opokuma.
“I have been asking all my friends in Bayelsa what makes Kolokuma-Opokuma thick?
“Today, I have the opportunity finally to actually visit Kolokuma-Opokuma and I was in Kaiama and the staff assured us that just as it happened in 2015, it will happen again.
“Next is the recurrent problem where some unscrupulous actors follow voters to polling units with money on Election Day to induce them. It is called vote buying.
“Our democracy cannot be on sale in the open market. The citizens should be allowed to vote for whoever they choose in the Election Day.
“We appeal to you to continue to speak to politicians and their supporters on peaceful conduct during the campaign process and beyond.”
On why all eyes would be on Bayelsa and Kogi, Mahmood said: “First, this will be the first major election since the 2019 general elections in Nigeria.
“What lessons have we learnt since the conduct of the general election that will help us to improve on the forthcoming governorship election?
“Secondly, Bayelsa and Kogi are not easy states when it comes to conducting major elections particularly governorship election.
“The challenge is particularly in terms of the terrain and therefore it has an impact on electoral logistics.
“But another great challenge is the attitude of the political class which has become a source of concern to the commission”.
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Prof. Mahmoud also informed that the House of Assembly election would hold in Brass Constituency 2 in Brass Local Government Area on the same day scheduled for the governorship election.
He promised that the commission was ready to conduct “peaceful, free, fair, credible and conclusive election” in Bayelsa as he appealed to the traditional rulers to make useful suggestions towards this objective.
In his reply, Diette-Spiff commended INEC for seeking the advice of the traditional rulers in the state and appealed to the commission to prevail on security agencies to reduce military presence during the election.
“They were brought here by one or two candidates. They also after the election eliminated one or two persons.
“You will need to appeal to the army in particular to try to contain their men so that they would not go off the handle and scare people away from the polling units. One or two areas are not approachable”, he said.