Hurdles before Bayelsa SIEC

Maurice IwuTo conduct the forthcoming local government election in Bayelsa State, the state independent electoral commission must balance the demands of opposition political parties with those of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), writes Soji Ajibola.

Members of the Bayelsa State Independent Electoral Commission (BYSIEC) while taking oath of office swore not to be bias in the course of discharging their constitutional responsibilities. However, in less than three months the commission is faced with what could be best described as litmus test and its acidity is not going to be tested with litmus paper, according to the chemists, but with the decision it takes at the end of the matter.

Chairman of the Commission, Honourable Akpoabode Yingomone, recently briefed newsmen in the state capital, Yenagoa, about the commission’s plan for the forthcoming local government election in the state. The time-table he presented, according to him, was not unilaterally arrived at by the commission, but by all the stakeholders in the election, including the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and other political parties.

He said registered political parties, based on the time-table, were to conduct their primaries between 27th March and 9th April while names of candidates of the different political parties were to be forwarded to BYSIEC between April 10 and 14. The election proper, according to BYSIEC, will hold on May 10. While other registered political parties complied with the directive of BYSIEC, the state chapter of the PDP is still battling to resolve the crisis that engulfed it. The crisis appears to have literally torn the umbrella protecting its members into shred.

Even though, the Chief Rufus Abadi-led State Executive Council maintains that there is no faction in Bayelsa State PDP, political watchers within and outside the state believe his stance is mere propaganda. The Abadi-led faction has maintained that it holds the ace of the party in the state. To confirm the disaffection in the state chapter of the party, the state chairman, Chief Fred Agbedi, claimed that the state executive committee had screened all the intending candidates for various positions in the forthcoming local government election. Abadi, on the other hand, has called for fresh applications from prospective candidates.

Even though the faction fixed a date for the primaries with posters of some of the candidates adorning the streets of Yenagoa, the primaries did not hold, leaving the intending candidates helpless and hopeless. Weeks after the deadline for the conduct of party primaries and submission of names of candidates that emerged from the primaries, the electoral commission is yet to make a categorical statement. Rather, it has busied itself with placing jingles on the state-owned radio station –Radio Bayelsa — announcing that the election would hold as scheduled.

To a few analysts, the PDP seemed to be taking other political parties for granted as it is yet to either apply for extension of date or tell the electoral body its mode of selecting its aspirants.

Honourable Yingomone, in his address while rolling out the local government election time-table, sought the cooperation of political parties, other stakeholders and the electorate, and subsequently called on the political parties to work within the framework of the time-table. Yingomone added that the political ideology of harmonisation that PDP is used to would not be accepted.

He stated that in case of any alteration, all political parties, stakeholders and the entire electorate would be duly informed and given the opportunity to make inputs. Even though the change has not been announced, the attitude of the PDP seems to be tilting towards this end.

With less than one month to the election and the breach of the election time-table by the PDP, it is difficult to determine whether the Commission will live up to its billing. Having watched carefully from a very close distance, the leadership of other political parties recently took the battle to the secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), intimating the leadership of the union about the undemocratic attitude of the PDP and the Bayelsa State Government.

Led by the chairman of the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP), Honourable Collins Cocodia, the opposition parties described as undemocratic the disposition of the state government to the conduct of the local government election. Cocodia, who expressed the readiness of the opposition parties to participate in the election, said despite the deliberate attempt of both the state government and BYSIEC to allegedly starve them of their constitutional grant, they would still participate in the election.

The group expressed regret that in spite of their efforts to cooperate with BYSIEC, the commission seemed to be playing a double standard game, adding that the issuance and sale of nomination forms date to contestants turned out to be a mirage.

“We have observed that the intrigues of the state government to truncate the activities of the commission are a direct implication of the ruling party’s inability to conduct its primaries within the stipulated period, coupled with the starving of the commission of fund. Without mincing words, the plan is to arm-twist the commission to call for an extension in order to enable the PDP resolve its internal wrangling,” Cocodia said.

Describing the move as unconstitutional and a show of greed and wickedness, he said the state government was playing politics with the development of the state. The group of opposition political parties further stated that there was no time, place or forum where they called for extension of date, but that it was a ploy by both the state government and the PDP to buy time since the guidelines of the commission had completely excluded them from participating in the exercise as a result of the party’s failure to conduct its primaries as scheduled.

The group of opposition parties said that its position on the matter would be communicated to the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), the State Security Service (SSS) and the State Police Command. This is just as it called on the state government to release money meant for the exercise to the commission without further delay. It also warned the state government not to interfere with the activities of the commission in its conduct of credible election.

The leadership of the opposition parties asked for the release of grants due to them, just as it threatened to take legal action against the government if it should change the date of election. A new twist was introduced to the debacle when an Appeal Court sacked former Governor Timipre Sylva on Tuesday and the speaker of the state House of Assembly, Honourable Werinipre Seibarugu, has since been sworn in as acting governor. Whether the commission and the state government would heed this warning in the light of the latest twist, conduct the election as scheduled or turn the table by adjusting the time-table is what Nigerians are waiting to see.