A day after the governorship election held in Bayelsa, serving commissioners and members of the state House of Assembly have laid siege to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office in Yenagoa, the state capital.
At the INEC office on Sunday, the aggrieved lawmakers and commissioners insisted that the election did not be held in the Nembe Local Government Area of the riverine state.
Commissioners and members of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly lay siege to the INEC office insisting that elections didn’t take place at Bassambiri, Nembe. pic.twitter.com/KlMrGvHCC6
— Channels Television (@channelstv) November 12, 2023
However, there was tight presence of security operatives at the INEC office to forestall any breakdown of law and order.
Earlier on Saturday, Bayelsa State Governor, Duoye Diri, accused the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the November 11, 2023 governorship poll in the state, Timipre Sylva, of being behind electoral violence recorded in the Nembe-Bassambiri area of the state.
Diri, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the poll, is seeking re-election for another four years in office. He spoke on Saturday after he cast his vote in the poll.
“We have been raising the issue of the violent character and person of Timipre Sylva. Over the years, in every election he is involved in, you experience violence, you experience lawlessness, and even in Nembe-Bassambiri, the name and the character behind what is happening in Nembe-Bassambiri is Timipre Sylva,” Diri said.
Sylva was first Bayelsa governor from May 2007 to April 2008 and later between May 2008 and January 2012. He was also the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources from 2019 to 2023.