Ahead of November 11, 2023 governorship election in Bayelsa state, Secretary of the Media and Publicity, Bayelsa State National Gubernatorial Campaign Council, Yekeni Nabena, has tasked the security agencies to focus their activities on Bayelsa state so as to prevent cases of violence and other criminal acts before and during the forthcoming election.
Nabena, who is a former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the ruling party also challenged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to quickly state clearly the election guidelines it will employ so as to avoid confusion.
APC national chairman, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, on Friday inaugurated the national campaign team with a task to mobilise, study all the guidelines and deliver the party’s candidate, Chief Timipre Sylva.
Speaking with newsmen, Sunday in Abuja, Nabena said INEC has obligation to tell the voters whether it will use BVAS, transmit election results from the polling unit and other guidelines.
The APC chieftain said: “First and foremost, the security system should be focused in Bayelsa State. And INEC should come out plain this time around. Is it BVAS or we just do whatever we want to do while INEC takes it from there. There is no clear direction. So you can do whatsoever you want to do then INEC can come back and do what they like. They are telling us INEC said they don’t have power to transmit.
“INEC must have a clear direction so that voters will know this is the system. So that everybody can protect his or her votes. Not that somebody that will go to government House and write this things for INEC. So tell us, are you going to transmit the result from polling units? Or what are you going do? Are you going to use BVAS? Tell us from day one. Let there be a guideline and an understanding that this is it. Not the one court will say INEC can come up with anything they want. Politics is the biggest business in the world.”
When asked about the chances of the party in the coming election, the Bayelsa born Nabena said: “We have done it before. We will still do it again. We have heard them saying by the side that they know what to do. You know they always collect it from the court. But this time around, it won’t work that way. They said even though APC wins it, they will collect it from the court but they will, be shocked by God’s grace.
“We are going to win. The PDP people won’t tell you the truth. In their campaign council, if you look at it, you will find out that their bigwigs like the Senator Dickson is not there. They will not tell you. Because the governor too has abused the Senator where he is from the same Senatorial District. Like I said before, my Senator from my Senatorial District made the mistake of bringing somebody like that. He is sad that the projects that he was doing have been abandoned by Diri. and he is doing his own. So what you are seeing in Bayelsa is just couple of unfinished projects here and there.”
On the recent mass defection to APC and the denial by the state government, Nabena said the governor and his party are afraid of what will become of their fate soon, adding that already there is confusion in the PDP camp of Sylva’s candidacy.
“Even before now, they didn’t believe we are going to move to this extent. But they became afraid when they observed that we have started taking their key people.
“As I talk to you, in the PDP camp, there is confusion in every local government in the state. We don’t want to behave like them because their own PDP people have said they can’t. That is why we brought these people out there to the National television for people to see. Defecting is not the problem.
“We have seen a lot of people defect here and there. But at the end of the day, there is no result.. But this time around, we have a different approach ; that is our own secret.
“As far as I am concerned, the people of Bayelsa have seen that the Governor has done nothing. I don’t blame the governor for saying truth. The governor was not prepared. I once heard him telling his people that ‘I said I want to be a Senator because I didn’t tell them I want to be a governor.’ Then Governor Dickson brought me out.
“That is to tell you that you cannot give what you don’t have. If you look at the state, there is blackout. The governor is enjoying light from local content. NDDC is giving them gas from turbine light. Even in the state itself, there is no light. How will you develop the state? So, governor has said it himself that he didn’t beg anybody to vote for him. So he is doing his best even though it is not enough. For now, I don’t need to say much but I believe when the results start coming out, the results will speak for itself.”