14 POLITICAL PARTIES BACK CANCELLATION OF BAYELSA GUBER ELECTION IN IJAW

14 out of the 20 political parties that fielded candidates for the December 5, governorship election in Bayelsa State, said, they stand by the decision of INEC on the cancellation of the Southern Ijaw council election.
State chairman of Independent Democrats, ID, Prince Elemah, who addressed newsmen in Yenagoa, yesterday, condemned what they called “electoral fraud” that characterized the exercise in Southern Ijaw council, noting that INEC personnel and materials were hijacked by hoodlums through the instrumentality of the security operatives to harass and intimidate their party agents and the electorate.
The briefing was attended by the chairmen of Social Democratic Party, SDP; African Democratic Congress, ADC; Allied Congress Party of Nigeria, ACPN; KOWA; Progressives People Alliance, PPA; Peoples Party of Nigeria, PPN; Democratic Peoples’ Party, DPP; Democratic People’s Congress, DPC; African Peoples Alliance, APA; New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP; Mega Progressives Peoples Party, MPPP; United Peoples Congress, UPC; and Peoples Democratic Congress, PDC.
Commending the people of Southern Ijaw council for standing firm to protest the alleged abuse of their civic rights to vote during the election, the parties called on all contestants to respect and accept the decision of the electorate on the election held so far in the seven local government areas and the people’s decision in the Southern Ijaw rescheduled election when INEC eventually fixes a date.
Southern Ijaw council has 120,827 registered voters, the highest in the eight councils of the state.