YENAGOA
Following the wanton maiming and killing of Ijaw youths in Bayelsa state ahead of the Southern Ijaw supplementary election, the leadership of the Niger Delta Non Violence Youths Leaders Assembly has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to declare the December 5 governorship results.
The group also decried the wanton activities of an ex militant leader in the region who they said has been causing havoc and maiming PDP supporters in Southern Ijaw communities.
The Niger Delta Youth Leaders also condemned the attacks on the life of the former Bayelsa state Speaker, Hon Boyelayefa Debekeme by suspected hired thugs of the APC at his home town, Ekeremor local government Area.
The Youth Leaders Assembly urged the Police to arrest Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, minister for State for Agriculture for allegedly masterminding electoral violence and hiring armed youths in the Ekeremor Area of the state.
Speaking in Yenagoa hours before the planned supplementary governorship elections by INEC in Southern Ijaw, President, Niger Delta Youths Leaders Assembly, Ambassador Tonjo Kennedy West said the APC candidate, Chief Timipre Sylva and his supporters are not ready for the Saturday re run in the area.
He called on President Muhammadu Buhari and the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase to ensure a violence free poll, adding that the negative consequences of a flawed election might breed instability in the region and rubbish the Buhari administration’s records.
He reminded Buhari of his words, “I am for every body and for nobody,” stressing that he should not allow the supplementary poll to be compromised.
Tonjo West also appealed to the Inspector General of Police to draft 30% of the police formations to the troubled communities in the state including the southern Ijaw where he claimed that suspected APC thugs are camping.
He called on the security agencies and INEC to provide a level playing ground for the people of Southern Ijaw to vote the candidate and party of their choice.
“Southern Ijaw people should be given a level playing field to exercise their franchise as citizens of this country and as Bayelsans in general,” he said.
The group equally demanded that the IGP should make the identifies of the policemen deployed to the state public to avoid parading fake uniformed persons.
