Bayelsa guber poll: Dickson narrates tale of 22 killings, manipulation of electoral process

Akani Alaka/Abuja

Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State, on Monday, in Abuja, alleged that at least 22 persons were killed while 93 others were injured in the violence which characterised the state’s November 16 governorship election.

The governor, who also gave a vivid account of how the election, which he described as a ‘democratic coup’ was rigged, added that some of those who lost their lives were killed in the most gruesome manner by militia men to ensure that their remains were not seen.    

The governor, who said he has set up a panel of inquiry to unravel the killings that characterized the poll said while 12 people were confirmed dead because their corpses have been seen, there were reports of gruesome killings of at least 10 others in Nembe.

 “The violence that they visited on the law-abiding citizens of this country in Nembe, we have not heard the last of it. To cover the number of the dead, they beheaded them, tore open their bellies and throw them into the water, so that they will not float. When you do that, the human corpse sinks. They are experts in killing. The people they killed like that are close to ten. Those ones we have not seen. I am talking of corpses seen now.

The governor alleged that the election was rigged to ensure the emergence of David Lyon, the candidate of All Progressives Congress, APC as the winner with the use of security agencies who took advantage of the terrain of the state to manipulate the process.

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He added that collation officers who were not familiar with the terrain of the state and not known to the people were deployed for the conduct of the election.

According to him, security operatives took advantage of this lack of knowledge of the terrain to hijack the collation officers who were mostly from the University of Benin for the benefit of APC. 

He added that the elections were massively rigged in Nembe, Southern Ijaw, Ogbia and Yenagoa where unbelievable figures were recorded for the APC candidate.

 “Nembe has been under siege for months.  And INEC drove electoral materials there. Nobody took control, the militia men sat, wrote result. Those are the figures they gave out.

 “These collation officers were guided by the military and protected by the police to rig the poll. In Nembe, militia men took control, thumb-printed ballot papers and returned 80,000 votes for APC.

 “In Ogbia, they came up with 50,000 votes which had never been the case in the electoral history of the state. In Yenagoa, the area with the largest votes, they arrested, harassed and shot down PDP supporters. As we are talking, a number of PDP supporters are still in custody.

He added that some electoral officers involved have already sworn to affidavits and ready to speak on how the security agencies manipulated the polls to come out with the unbelievable figures of voters’ turnout of about 80 per cent in some of the local governments.

According to the Governor, soldiers and the police officers simply ensured that many were unable to come out to exercise their civic duties during the election.

Governor Dickson was emphatic that but for the massive rigging, there was no way the PDP candidate, Diri Douri, will lost the election to APC.

 “If we say one man, one vote, we will sweep the polls. But some elite will stay in Lagos and Abuja and push out ugly narratives.

 “But if you say vote, people have been voting for candidates that I have been supporting, particularly from 2015 till now.”

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He added that Bayelsa has remained peaceful because of his frequent appeals to the people to shun violence.

Dickson said the only avenue available for the PDP to seek redress was at the tribunal.

He noted that aside the well documented malpractices, there were two judgments of   the Federal High Court delivered before the election which indicated that the APC had no candidate in the state for the poll.

 “As of the date of the election on November 16, there were and there will continue to be two judgments of the Federal High Court. As of that date, the APC did not have a valid candidate.

 “We will continue the battle at the Federal High Court and the Election Petitions Tribunal.”